Simple as Breathing
by jackieeeebee
Summary: Juliet Bellows is a normal eleven year old girl. Who happens to wake up one morning in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds with absolutely no memory of how she got there in the first place. Follow her through the most difficult time in Wizarding History as she fights for love, life, and remembering. ON HIATUS. In the process of rewriting.
1. Where it all Began

**So this is my first fanfic and after taking a very long time away from the story I realized that I was progressing the story at a pace that would take me forever to finish so I will be rewriting the chapters to move the story along at a quicker pace. I am not a professional writer by any means and so if I have grammatical errors please let me know through a PM. I am also not British so I will try my best to incorporate as much British slang and words as possible, but no promises. As my story is slightly AU I will not be keeping with all the details of the series' plot though I do not plan on changing any of the canon couples. Any constructive criticism or positive reviews are greatly appreciated and while I would ideally like to not see any flames if you so feel that they are necessary I can not stop you from posting them.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

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**Simple as Breathing Chapter 1: When it all began**

Minerva McGonagall remembered the first time she ever met the Bellows. Their daughter, Juliet, not even a day old had been written down in the Hogwarts roster destined to begin classes once she turned eleven. For families in Minerva's world that would not come to a surprise. However, Juliet was a muggleborn witch, and with the downfall of Voldemort both the Ministry and Hogwarts decided it would be best to inform the parents of muggleborn witches or wizards of the life that lay ahead for their child as soon as possible. For many parents this became the day of their child's birth. Little did she know then, just how important Juliet would turn out to be.

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**January 1st, 1999**

Minerva stood outside the maternity ward at Mount Vernon's Hospital with a stuffed bear in hand and asked at the nurse's station for the Bellows' room number, claiming to be a great-aunt come to see the newest family addition.

She got to the room and knocked on the door only to hear a muffled "come in". She walked in and addressed the new parents, "hello, my name is Minerva McGonagall and I need to speak with you both, it's about Juliet." sensing their discomfort at the potential news they were about to receive she continued, "I can assure you that it's nothing bad and that she is in perfect health I spoke to the nurse on the way in."

"Hello Minerva, I'm Paul and this is Rosalina, what is it you need to tell us about our daughter that the nurse could not?" The man gave her a curious yet cold face indicating that he was not one to be joked around with, especially at this time.

"I'm here to tell you that Juliet is special, in a way that can not easily be imagined. Your daughter Juliet is a witch." Minerva scanned their faces, worried that the muggles would react negatively to the particularly shocking news, but all she saw was acceptance.

Rosalina spoke up, "our neighbor's son is a wizard. They found out shortly after he was born as well, he's a few years older than Juliet and we watch him sometimes when his parents go out-of-town on business. They told us so that we could be on the lookout for early signs of his magic."

Minerva nodded. "Yes, young witches and wizards often show signs of magic when they are upset or stressed, it is something you will need to watch for as Juliet grows up. I will keep in touch and either myself or another one of the Professors from Hogwarts, the wizarding school Juliet can eventually attend will visit each year on her birthday to see how she is doing and to educate you on what the wizarding world is like to make you and Juliet's transition easier."

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**Eleven Years Later**

Ginny Potter cursed her rotten luck that this was the year Professor Sybil Trelawney was set to make the rounds to the muggleborn families to check in on the children, something always seemed to go wrong when she was involved. After having Lily it made sense for her to sign up in order to help calm the parents by talking about her personal experiences at Hogwarts and of raising small children in the wizarding world. Thankfully today was easy, the only house to go to today was the Bellows. Their daughter Juliet was eleven today and only another eight months before she started at Hogwarts so they were accustomed to the visits. With Sybil by her side Ginny rang the doorbell, smiling as she heard the excited yell from the other side of the door. Rosalina opened the door and welcomed Ginny and Sybil inside, "Juliet has been waiting all day for you to get here. She couldn't sit still, and I had to keep grabbing everything she kept levitating in her excitement."

Ginny laughed, "well hopefully she will calm down now that we're here, right Jules?" She looked over at the young girl who just giggled and nodded. Ginny turned back to Rosalina, "my youngest was the same way the day before she started at Hogwarts, except she kept levitating the cat, who did not appreciate it in the slightest."

"Well now that Juliet is settled why don't we have a seat in the living room. Paul is in there waiting for us." Rosalina smiled at Ginny "Professor Trelawney, Ginny would either of you like something to drink, I just put a kettle on"

"I'll take a cup please, Sybil would you like one as well?" Ginny looked over at the aging professor who looked quite glazed over.

When Professor Trelawney chose to open her mouth, it wasn't a request for a beverage, or even her typical voice. Ginny looked back at Rosalina and Juliet worriedly not quite sure what the prophecy would be.

"The one with the power to make death into life is near

As the planets aligned in the time of the goat

A child was born to save them all

Send her back to the power times three

She must fight to remember and to balance the loss"

Ginny did not notice until he spoke that Paul had joined them in the entryway. "What in the bloody hell was that?"

Trelawney spoke normally once again. "What was what?"

Ginny knew that she was going to need to show McGonagall what happened in the pensive later, prophecies were not something to be messed with. "Paul, Rosalina what you two just heard was a prophecy, about what I can't be certain but it seems to be about your daughter."

Rosalina hesitated as she spoke "I had a feeling, I read about them after the time you explained the Hogwarts curriculum to us, but how do we know that she was talking about Juliet? It talked about sending her back, back where?"

Ginny sighed "I don't know. I really don't know."

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**Later that day**

"Minerva, I don't know what this means but it has to be Juliet. It happened while we were at her house today." Ginny's groan of frustration caught the attention of both the Headmistress, and several of the paintings on the wall.

"Ginny if I might put in a word I think I may be able to help." Professor Dumbledore smiled down from his painting on the wall.

Ginny sighed "Anything that can help Albus would be greatly appreciated."

"You seem so fixated on the where she is going back to. Have you ever thought that it might actually be a when?" He inquired of the younger witch.

"No! Albus that's a genius idea! That makes so much more sense now, but how many years would it be? All the prophecy says is the power times three... could it be twenty-one? After all seven has long been recognized as a powerful number in our world... that has to be it, nothing else makes sense" Ginny starts rereading the prophecy but then stops. "But how are we supposed to get her back that far? And how are we supposed to make sure she needs to fight to remember?"

Snape drawls down towards Minerva and Ginny. "I think this is where I may be of assistance." and he draws out the plans to make sure that Juliet can be when and where she needs to be.

**Thanks so much for reading!**


	2. January 1st, 1989

**Because I'm rewriting **

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.**

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**Simple as Breathing Chapter 2- January 1st, 1989**

Let's do a quick recap of my morning, shall we. I woke up, or more accurately I was awakened by a huge dog slobbering all over my face. I sat up and was treated to a very bizarre sight. A large man, bigger than anyone I had ever seen in my life, was standing next to his almost equally large bloodhound carrying what had to have been the most beat up pink umbrella I had ever seen in my entire life.

He asked me "Who are ye? How did ya get inside the gates? What are ye doing at Hogwarts?"

The more I thought about the answers to his questions the more confused I got. How could I not remember my name. I looked around trying to find something familiar and nothing clicked. Confused, and frustrated I began to cry, I managed to choke out "I... I... I don't know. I can't remember anything."

The large man's face softened at my words. He spoke again, "well I'm Hagrid and this is Hogwarts." he gestured behind him and my jaw dropped to the floor, I was staring at the most ornate castle I had ever seen... or at least I think I had ever seen. "Come on we'll go speak to Headmaster Dumbledore, he'll know how to help ye." He started walking up to the castle and I had to jog to keep up. When we finally got to the massive front doors Hagrid pulled them open and my jaw dropped again because as incredible as the castle was on the outside the inside was even more fantastic.

"Um, Hagrid what exactly is Hogwarts?" Between the ornate nature of the castle and the gorgeous grounds it surprised me that there weren't a whole lot of tourists roaming around... the castle had to be several thousand years old.

"Hogwarts is only the finest school for witchcraft and wizardry the world has ever known." He keeps leading me through hallways and past huge rooms each filled with something different until we get to a set of stairs guarded by a statue that looked a bit like an eagle.

"Lemon drop" Hagrid stated to the statue and it started turning to reveal an entrance to the stairs that we quickly walked up. "The stairs are protected by a password. Don't want just anybody walking into Dumbledore's office now do we?"

"No I suppose not." Still feeling incredibly overwhelmed and confused I just wanted to crawl into a ball and cry until everything was better. That was until Dumbledore opened the door. I had a feeling, a feeling that this man was supposed to be important to me. That I needed to help him in some way, and somehow that made everything that I had gone through that morning worth it.

Flash forward to now. I'm in Hagrid's hut drinking an extra large cup of tea. I swear everything about this man is huge… I must appear tiny to him. Dumbledore, after we explained my morning, told us that he needed to discuss something with another one of the professors. He called her Professor McGonagall, and sent us away until he could speak with her. I finally had calmed down and was feeling a lot less overwhelmed, now I was just curious about everything.

"Hagrid?"

"Hmm?"

"What is it like in the wizarding world? I really don't know much of anything about it."

"Oh er, well… it depends on where ye are. Diagon Alley is always busy, people bustling about and the sort. But then the small villages like Godric's Hollow are quiet… just like any other place I suppose."

"Oh, I wish I could remember what everywhere else looked like… It's so frustrating not being able to remember." I kick the leg of the table in anger, and regretted that immediately because my foot started to throb. I hear a knock at the door and try to mask my pain.

"Come in!" Hagrid bellowed at the mystery person behind the door.

Dumbledore and a woman who I assume is Professor McGonagall walk in and he turns to me "my dear do you know how old you are?"

My foot still throbbing I try not to sound like I'm in pain, "eleven… I think?" I'm not sure why, but for some reason eleven popped into my head and felt right. Maybe my memory was slowly coming back.

The old man smiled, "excellent, that makes everything much clearer now. Your first name is Juliet though I'm afraid our roster for your year did not record your last name, so unfortunately we are still trying to find out where you came from. We are asking parents with children around your age if they can take you in and look after you while we find out. With any luck we will have some responses back soon, so we will be able to take you somewhere to stay until we find out more about you. One of us will come fetch you from Hagrid's when we find a suitable place for you."

And with that Hagrid and I are alone again.

Hagrid fills the silence left with Dumbledore's exit, "So Juliet is there anything else you'll be wanting to know? I'm sure ye have some more questions fer me."

I gladly take the opportunity to ask my questions "can you tell me about Hogwarts? I want to know what it's like, especially if I'm going to go there."

"Of course you'd be wanting to know about Hogwarts. Well there are four houses Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor's mascot is the lion and the witches and wizards in that house are known to be a brave bunch. Hufflepuff has the badger and they are supposed to be hardworking and loyal. Ravenclaw has the eagle for a mascot, and they are the brainy bunch. And Slytherin, they're the nastier bunch, ambitious and cruel, they will do whatever needs to be done to get what they want. That's not to say that every person from the houses fits perfectly into those qualities. The personalities are more based upon the ideals of the house founders, each of them wanted something different to come out of Hogwarts." He smiles at me "anything else you'd like to know?"

Several hours later Hagrid and I are still talking about what the wizarding world has in store for me when there is another knock on the door.

"Come on in" we both yell at the same time causing me to laugh. It's astounding how close I've gotten to Hagrid in just one short day. I'll be sad to leave him though I made him promise to visit me before I go to Hogwarts this fall.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, the woman from earlier, who I learned is the Gryffindor house head and transfiguration professor walk in with a woman and a girl a few years older than me who I assume is her daughter.

Dumbledore smiles at me "Juliet, this is Andromeda Tonks and her daughter Nymphadora."

The girls hair turns bright red and I catch her mumbling under her breath "don't call me Nymphadora" she then quickly turns to me "wotcher Juliet I'm Dora but you can call me Tonks."

"Hi Tonks it's nice to meet you. Hi Andromeda." I turn to each of them in turn and greet them.

"Oh sweetheart, call me Andy or Mum, Andromeda is such a formal name I hardly see it fitting." Andromeda smiles back.

"Okay, Andy, I can do that." I laugh, I like the Tonks' already.

"Hey Tonks, how did you change your hair color like that?" I look at Dora confused because her hair went from brown, to red, and back to brown so quickly I almost thought I had imagined it.

"I'm a metamorphmagus, I can change my appearance at will." and with that she changed her nose into that of a pig." making me laugh even harder than I had been. "I'm fifteen so I'm in my fifth year this year. That means you'll be at school with me for my sixth and seventh years. I'm in Hufflepuff but I'm mostly friends with the Gryffindors, the Hufflepuffs are all a little wimpy for me."

"Nymphadora" Andromeda scolded her "don't say things like that about your housemates, they are very lovely people."

She rolled her eyes "yeah, fine okay mum, at least our Quidditch team isn't all bad"

"I'm sorry, but what is Quidditch?" I look at Tonks hoping that she would explain it to me.

"Quidditch is a sport that wizards play on broomstick. It uses giant hoops and a variety of balls. The quaffle is the biggest and if one of your team's chasers throw it through a hoop you get ten points. The bludgers are a bit smaller and those the beaters hit at the other team's players in order to stop them from scoring. The smallest is the snitch which is worth one-hundred and fifty points and ends the game it can only be caught by the seeker."

"Oh wow! That sounds incredible. Does every house have a team?" I practically squeal with excitement. I can't wait to properly explore the wizarding world and everything that goes along with it.

Tonks laughs "Yes Juliet, every house has a team. So don't worry, when you get sorted into Slytherin we can kick your team's butt up and down the Quidditch pitch."

"No! I will not be in Slytherin… well at least I hope not…" I look worriedly at the adults around the room hoping for some guidance.

"I was a Slytherin dear and I turned out just fine. There is no need to worry. The sorting hat will place you where you will flourish the best. Though I've heard that if you have a particular house in mind the hat does take that into account as well." Andy smiles at me and I feel much better.

Dumbledore steps in now "Well as much fun as today has been Juliet should probably be getting back home with you. I'm sure Ted is very excited to meet her. Tonks I shall see you back here when break is up in a few days. Juliet, farewell until next year, I am sure that when the time comes you will be all the more excited to be joining us here at Hogwarts."

"Thank you Professor, I already can't wait to go here." I turn to mum and Tonks, "so how are we getting home?"

"Good question Juliet." she turns to Dumbledore "Professor may we use your fireplace to floo? I don't think I should try and apparate the three of us together?"

"Ah yes of course Andromeda."

We all head back into the castle after saying goodbye to Hagrid and head over to Dumbledore's office. On the way there Tonks and I walk in the back of the group and I keep asking her questions about Hogwarts and what her family is like. It finally occurs to me that I have no idea what flooing is. "Hey Tonks, what is flooing?"

She laughs "Oh right, you've never used the floo network before. Well it's a way of traveling using the fireplace. You have to take a handful of powder called Floo powder and you throw it into the fireplace and say the name of the place that you want to go. You then get sucked into the Floo system and you step out at the fireplace grate that you want to get out at. Don't worry you can floo two at a time when the people are smaller so we can go together."

I smile at her appreciatively "Okay good. I have a feeling I would have screwed it up if I was by myself. Thanks Tonks."

"Anytime" She smiles back at me.

We all get up to the office and after saying goodbye to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall we floo home without a hitch.

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**Three days later**

Tonks and I are woken up by mum and dad knocking on our doors telling us to get up so that we can take Tonks back to the train station for school. I quickly throw on some clothes, brush my teeth, and my hair, and head downstairs just as mum is finished levitating down Tonks' trunk. We eat a quick breakfast and head over to the train station. The entrance to Platform 9 ¾ is like nothing I've ever seen before. We run straight through the pillar between platforms 9 and 10 and all of a sudden we are in a totally different area. I hug Tonks tightly. "Promise you'll write me?"

"Everyday if you want." She smiles at me.

"Not everyday once a week is just enough for me. We don't need to totally wear out Apollo and Artemis." Apollo is Dora's owl that she got right before she started at Hogwarts, and Artemis is my owl that I got in Diagon Alley the day after I wound up at the Tonks' house.

"Okay, once a week I can manage. Just try not to have too much fun without me. Though I know that the Weasleys can't wait to hang out again." We both laugh, we hung out with the Weasleys yesterday and I became fast friends with the twins Fred and George who are going to be in my year at Hogwarts. Tonks has been teasing me since we got back because she thinks their younger brother Ron has a huge crush on me and I just tease back because I think her friend Charlie, their older brother, likes her.

"Girls the train is about to leave soon. Dora you need to go." Dad comes over to us.

"Goodbye sweetheart we will see you in a few months." Mum and dad both hug Tonks and send her off to get on the train. We stay at the station until the train is out of sight and then we head back to the house.

**So this chapter is just under double the length of the first one. I'm slowly getting better at the writing for length. I hope to have the next one up within the next week since I already have some of it written down already.**


	3. Of Letters, Snowmen, and Friendship

**Hello everyone. Chapter 3 here. Thank you so much for continuing to read my story, and for those of you who are still here thank you sticking with it during the rewrite.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.**

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**Chapter 3- Of letters, snowmen, and friendship**

**Tonks POV**

January 5, 1989

Dear Tonks,

It seems like just yesterday you got back on the train to finish out your 5th year at Hogwarts… well maybe that's just because it was yesterday… Anyways, the house was very quiet when I woke up this morning since you were at school and dad (I figure if I'm going to be called a Tonks I should get used to calling you family) went in to work. It made me miss you and your laughter and noise so much that I just had to write to you. Mum and dad are both doing well, I mean not much can change in a day. Mum was just talking to Molly Weasley through the fireplace and so I think they are setting up another day for me to hang out with the twins, Ron, and Ginny again. How is it being back at school? Have you told your friends about me yet? I'm sure it's awkward trying to figure out how to explain me to people you've lived with for five years. Say hi to Charlie for me, have fun, and eat a lot of dessert for me, goodness knows mum never lets me eat enough sweets at home. Please respond soon.

Love your most lovely and darling little sister,

Juliet Tonks

P.S. I hope you don't mind me calling you my sister, mum and dad said I should try it out.

P.P.S. Mum says to study hard for your OWLs and that you need to do well if you still want to be an auror

P.P.P.S. What exactly is an auror?

Tonks got her first letter after the break, "Juliet must be bored out of her mind at home without me." She still hadn't figured out how to tell her friends and housemates about what happened… I mean it's not everyday that your family adopts a ten year old with memory loss over winter holiday. Though of course Nancy Holmes, the biggest gossip in all of Hogwarts read the note over her shoulder.

"Nymphadora who is Juliet?" Nancy practically screams in Tonks' ear.

"Well first off nosy Nancy, it's Tonks or Dora not Nymphadora, secondly if you must know Juliet is my younger foster sister, my parents took her in over the holiday, and lastly I'm sitting right next to you so yelling is not necessary." Tonks bit out every single word, frustrated with the fact that she wasn't able to tell everyone on her own terms, but pleased that it was a lot easier to tell the story how Juliet came to be a Tonks than she thought it would be.

Just as she finished Charlie walked by and noticing the vibrant red of Tonks' hair decided to swoop in and diffuse the situation."Hey Tonks. Ready to head down to class? I need help with the last question on the Transfiguration homework and I figured you would be the best person to ask."

Sensing her escape from the tension at her table Tonks quickly stood up and grabbed her bags, and then promptly tripping and falling right into Professor Snape.

"Watch where you are going, you never know what might happen if you trip and fall into the wrong person. Ten points from Hufflepuff for poor coordination." Snape snarled at her and turned to Charlie "you there Weasley help Ms. Tonks up from the floor." He stalked off out of the Great Hall and into the direction of the dungeons.

Charlie bent down to help Tonks up "well that was close, I was surprised you only got ten points off, Snape's been in a nasty mood since we got back, Gryffindor had potions with him yesterday and I heard he made Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor keeper cry… and Wood doesn't cry… well except when we lose a Quidditch match." They both chuckle at the thought of Wood crying after a loss, quickly forgetting all about the run-in with Professor Snape.

"I'll race you to Transfiguration!" Charlie quickly stands up and starts out the Great Hall.

"Not fair Charlie you have longer legs! And you won't trip over your own feet while you run!" Charlie stops just before the grand staircase and waits. "I know Tonks but it's funny to see you try." He laughs as she finally catches up to him.

"It's not funny, I'm not athletic and you know it. Goodness knows how I'll manage being an auror with how klutzy I am. They'll probably put me behind a desk." Tonks' grimaced at the thought of being behind a desk all day but then Charlie broke her focus.

"Come on worrywart lets get to Transfiguration so that we aren't late." With that Charlie started walking and Tonks followed quickly behind.

Later that night in the Hufflepuff common room Tonks began her letter to back to Juliet.

January 7, 1989

My dearest little sister Juliet,

Of course you can call me your sister only so long as you don't mind me doing it as well. I've missed you too you little nugget. So I just got your letter this morning at breakfast. I didn't tell anyone about you until today because I wasn't sure how to explain it. As I opened your letter to read it the absolute nosiest girl in all of Hogwarts, Nancy Holmes, read over my shoulder and announced your existence to the entire world. Thankfully Charlie saved me from all the questions by coming over to ask me for help in Transfiguration. When I got back to my common room later today though everyone was bombarding me with questions, especially because nosy Nancy had been spreading ten different stories about you. The best one was that your parents were both eaten by giants when you were a baby and they raised you as their own until Dumbledore found you and brought you back into civilization and we took you in. The stories that girl comes up with… she should write books. Anyways, Charlie says hello as do Percy and Bill, they wished they could have met you over the break but they had to stay here and work on school work and Head Boy duties, Bill is Head Boy and Percy just likes to suck up. I'm glad mum is making plans for you to hang out with the younger Weasley's again. It will be good for you to have interaction with kids your own age. That way you don't become old and boring like mum, shh don't tell her I said that. Oh and speaking of mum please do tell her that I'm hard at work with my OWL revisions. Between Charlie and I we have all of the subjects at least close to mastered so we help each other on our weak spots. Charlie told me that after we left the Burrow Ginny could not stop talking about you. she apparently freaked out when she saw you at the train station but was way too nervous to go up and say hello to you. I think she is just really glad to have another girl coming over to hang out at her house. It must be tough being the only young girl in a family full of brothers. Send my love to mum and dad and I'll be back before you know it. It's only a little over five more months until I'm home for the summer. Then we can make all kinds of noise in the house so you won't be bored out of your wits. I anxiously await your reply.

All my undying affection,

Tonks

P.S. I love these overly emotional openings and closings. It makes the letters feel like I'm in a romance novel rather than writing to my little sister.

P.P.S. I'm sending letters for mum and dad with Apollo so that way you can use him to send your reply and keep Artemis at home to talk to the Weasleys. I'm sure Ginny would love to get a letter from you and Ickle Ronniekins would just about die of happiness I'm sure if you mentioned him in it.

P.P.P.S An auror is a Ministry of Magic worker whose job is to catch dark wizards and those others in the wizarding community who wish to do it harm. If you want more of an explanation I can write more in my next letter as I'm now out of parchment.

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**Juliet's POV**

"Juliet! Your response from Tonks is here!" Andromeda yelled up the stairs. I quickly bolted out of my room and down the stairs to grab the letter from mum.

"Thanks mum. How much time do we have before we head over to the Burrow?" I ask as I head into the kitchen for breakfast.

"We need to leave in thirty minutes so eat and read quickly. You'll have to wait until you get home to respond." She looks over at me as I'm stuffing food in my face like a rabid animal. "Juliet, eat like a human being please, you aren't a rabid dog. You'll get a stomachache eating that fast." She scolds me and I slow down on the food shoveling anxious to head over to the Burrow to hang out with my new friends.

"Okay mum I'm done with breakfast can we head over now?" I jump up from the table and walk over to where my mother is standing. "Please?" I give her my best smile in the hope that the 30 minutes was just a ploy to get me to eat quickly so that we could head over as soon as I was ready.

"Oh I suppose we could head over now since you finished getting ready so quickly." Mum winks at me and I know that I had correctly guessed her plan.

I have to floo by myself this time and I'm very nervous. Though I focus on saying everything the same way that Tonks did when we flooed the first time to the Burrow.

I grab a handful of floo powder and step into the fireplace. I say as clearly as I can "The Burrow" and I'm off. As soon as I see the familiar grate for the Burrow I step out of the fireplace… and right into Fred Weasley. Fred and I both blush as we realize exactly how close we were to each other and we quickly separate just as George and Ginny walk in the room followed shortly by my mum flooing in.

"Juliet!" Ginny screams and launches herself at me wrapping me in a tight hug. "I missed you so much. The boys have been driving me crazy."

"Hey! We have not!" I swear Fred and George have the uncanny ability to say the same things at the exact same time. They both turn to glare at Ginny and I laugh causing them to both glare at me as well.

"What have you not done?" Molly chose then to walk in the room causing the boys and Ginny to immediately cease any argument that they were about to start.

"Nothing mum. Ginny just doesn't like our jokes." and again with the whole saying things at the same time.

I look at Ginny who is standing right next to me now having finished her hug "I swear you would think that they are the same person the way those two speak."

Fred hears what I say and walks over to me "who dear Juliet? Georgie and me? We basically are the same person. You can't have one without the other we'll probably even die at the same time we are so alike." It got so silent after Fred said that we could have heard a needle drop in the next room over.

Ron chose then to speak up "well, now that Fred and George have gone and killed the mood, how about we go grab the brooms and play a pick-up game of Quidditch?"

"Um I would be all for that except I've never flown a broom before in my life." I freeze as everyone in the room, except mum and Molly, turn to stare at me as though I had a second head.

"You've never flown a broom before?" Fred turns and asks me as though he didn't hear me right.

"Yup I've never flown a broom before. Though I would love to watch you guys play . Tonks made it sound so fascinating when she explained it to me." I half expect half hope that everyone will just let it slide because I don't feel like making a fool out of myself today.

Though I had no such luck because Fred just smiles at me with huge grin. "Well then we are going to teach you how to fly a broom."

"Okay, but how? I don't own a broomstick." I hope that this excuse is good enough to make him change his mind.

"We have plenty of brooms. Don't worry you can borrow Ron's. Right Ron?" Fred turns to his brother and gives him his usual cheeky grin.

"Uh yeah sure I guess Juliet can borrow my broom today." Ron's shrugs his shoulders and I smile.

"Okay perfect then. Let's go teach you how to fly a broom." Fred runs out of the room and I quickly follow equal parts anxious and nervous to learn how to fly. I just really don't want to screw up, especially since Tonks told me about the first time she tried to fly a broom. It apparently went about as awful as it could have gone for her and so it was not giving me much hope.

We get outside and Fred leads me to a shed which holds the family's broomsticks. Fred hands me what looks like it might be one of the newer brooms in the shed and he takes out another that looks to be older. He has me walk over to an open expanse of lawn that put a warming charm on so there is no snow on the ground and puts the broom down.

"Now put your hand out in the air over the broomstick and say up." Fred instructs me giving me a good 15 foot radius, I'm assuming so that he won't get hit if the broom acts up.

I take a deep breath and say "up" and the broom moves but doesn't go into my hand. So I try it again "up" this time with more force and much to my surprise the broom leaps right into my hand.

Fred is laughing when I look up from the broom. Thinking I did something wrong I look over at him nervously "did I do something wrong?" I ask him but I worry more about his answer.

"No you did fantastic. I was just laughing at a memory. The first time Percy tried to pick up a broom he was so frustrated with the broom that he eventually yelled up at it and the broom smacked him in the face. Needless to say Percy never ever tried flying again."

Feeling a lot better about my first experience flying. I tell Fred I'm ready to move on. He then shows me how to mount my broom and kick off. I manage it on my first try and by the end of the hour I'm zooming around playing catch with Fred using a quaffle. I see out of the corner of my eye George, Ginny, mum, and Molly come outside to check my progress since Fred and I hadn't come back in with any broken bones or disappointed faces at my failed attempt at flying. I see Ginny and George run to the shed and soon the four of us are playing a small pick up game with just the quaffle. After about another hour mum and Molly call the four of us inside for lunch. As we are walking in I turn to Fred and give him a huge hug.

"What was that for?" He turns to me and asks but then hugs me back.

"It's a thank you. For teaching me how to fly. I was so worried because Tonks told me these horrible stories about the times she tried to fly a broom so I'm just really happy I got the hang of it." I smile at Fred and we both sit down for lunch.

"So after lunch do you want to build a snowman?" Ron brightens up at this idea and he readily agrees as do the other Weasley children so after lunch mum and Molly both cast warming charms on all of us and we run outside to go play in the snow. Ginny and I build a snow witch complete with broomstick and the boys build a snow wizard holding a beaters bat. Ginny tells me as we are building how Fred and George both want to be beaters on the Gryffindor team their second year and that I should try out for chaser since I was really good at handling the quaffle earlier. With our snowmen all built none of us were quite ready to go back inside so Fred motions me over and whispers in my ear "we should start a snowball fight." I nod letting him know that I'm in so I reach down and grab some snow, mold it into a packed ball, and throw it right at the back of George's head. He jerks around and looks at Fred and I and we both laugh and point at each other neither of us wanting to be on the receiving end of George's wrath. Then, out of nowhere another snowball hits George in the back and Fred and I look to see Ginny running from George who is chasing her with a snowball. I yell out "snowball fight!" and we all break loose throwing snowballs at each other. Fred and I gang up on everyone else and we stand back to back helping the other dodge the snowballs all while having a good angle to throw them at everyone else. Molly finally comes outside and yells at us to come inside and with great reluctance we trudge back to the house all laughing with each other. Even Ron was enjoying himself, his earlier tantrum all forgotten. With the few hours before dinner Ron teaches me how to play Wizard's Chess, Fred and George show me how to play Gobstones, and all four of the Weasleys teach me how to play Exploding Snap. Arthur comes home from work and all four of the kids run over and give him hugs on the way into the dining room for dinner. He turns to me as I walk past him "hello Juliet, I don't believe we've met. I'm Arthur Weasley."

"Hello Mr. Weasley. It's nice to finally meet you. Everyone has told me so much about you." I smile at him thinking of all the stories the twins told me of his mishaps with the muggle technology that he keeps in his shed outside.

"Please call me Arthur. Mr. Weasley was my father." He smiles back at me and we make our way to the table. Fred and George saved me a seat in between them so I sit and we finally start dinner.

After dinner mum and I head back to my house, but not before twins and Ginny make me promise to write them the second I got bored. That way mum and Molly could schedule another day for us to play together. I fall asleep that night incredibly happy with the way the day went and very excited to tell Tonks about my first attempt at riding a broomstick. That night however, I had the most peculiar dream.

* * *

I'm sitting in a house I don't recognize next to a woman who looks like a much older version of me. I look around the room and see a woman who looks like an older version of Ginny Weasley so initially I just assume that I'm looking at what could be us in the future. There is a calendar on the wall for January 2002.

I keep thinking that until the woman next to me speaks. "Ginny, I hope you don't mind but I brought Juliet in to our meeting today so that she can hear the information about the wizarding world right from you."

Ginny opens her mouth and I freeze "Of course Rosalina. Juliet is old enough now to hear about the wizarding world. Today our meeting is about wizarding London. Right through an entrance in the back of the pub the Leaky Cauldron in London is Diagon Alley. In order to get there you need a witch or wizard with a wand so for the first trip before Juliet's first year so I will be accompanying you."

The woman, Rosalina, looks relieved when Ginny says she will be going with them the first time. "Thank heavens you'll be going with us I would be a nervous wreck trying to navigate the wizarding world with Juliet and Paul. What all is located in Diagon Alley?"

Ginny speaks again "There are a variety of stores from Ollivander's, where Juliet will get her first wand, to Flourish and Blotts, the wizarding bookstore. My favorite one however is a store my brothers Fred and George started back in 1996."

I wake up and go get Andy to tell her about the dream, she's sitting out on the couch in the family room with dad. "Mum, I just had a really odd dream. I think it was about the future... or I I could also call it my past."

Mum looks at me and then stands up "I'm getting Dumbledore. He will need to hear this." She gets me out of bed and we go downstairs and she floo calls Professor Dumbledore. He decides this is something that needs to be said in person and so he comes through the fireplace and sits down on the couch next to me.

"Andromeda, Ted can you leave Juliet and I while we discuss her dream. The future is not something that should be known ahead of time." Dumbledore looks at mum and dad and they nod leaving us along in the family room.

I describe my dream to Dumbledore and after a few minutes in silence Dumbledore speaks, "Do not worry Juliet, while your dream is unexpected it does not surprise me because I suspected the day I met you that you were not from this time. I will see what I can find out, but for the time being just relax it was only a dream"

I hug Dumbledore and mumble into his shoulder "I sure hope so Professor."

We call mum back into the room and Dumbledore hands her a box of vials. "These contain Dreamless Sleep Potion Poppy and I think it best that Juliet has one of these each night before she goes to be so that she doesn't have any more dreams like this again, like I said it is not the best to know the future."

Mum nods and walks Dumbledore to the fireplace "We'll let you know if anything else happens. Thank you Dumbledore." and with that he leaves to go back to Hogwarts. I take my potion and head up to bed undisturbed by dreams from my unremembered past.

**Well that's it. My third chapter. Thank you all for reading and please review.  
**


	4. Planning with a Lion and a Snake

**Here is Chapter 4.**

**As always. I do not own Harry Potter because if I did the epilogue would have needed to be whole 8th book of new information for me to be satisfied…**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Planning with a Lion and a Snake**

_Previously in Chapter 1_

_"The one with the power to make death into life is near_

_As the planets aligned in the time of the goat_

_A child was born to save them all_

_Send her back to the power times three_

_She must fight to remember and to balance the loss"_

"_...a prophecy, about what I can't be certain but it seems to be about your daughter..."_

_Snape drawls down towards Minerva and Ginny. "I think this is where I may be of assistance._"

* * *

**January 1, 2010**

Ginny looks up at her old professor's portrait and says, "Severus unless you happen to know where to find an extended length time turner I don't know how we can carry this out successfully."

Snape narrows his eyes at Ginny "well Ginevra, it is not a time turner that we need rather, it is a potion."

"A potion?" McGonagall looks at Severus. "What kind of potion could ever send someone back seventeen years?"

"It is referred to only as Pondera, it was developed in the late 1940s so as to safeguard the wizarding and muggle populations alike from the coming of another dictator like Adolf Hitler. Pondera means equilibrium or balance in Latin and the potion can only be used for instances where the balance of humanity's karma has been thrown out of alignment. The potion is intended to send one person back to a specific date to then properly align the life to death ratio on both sides of the war. The only dilemma is that it must be a specific person and year so a prophecy was always required. As far as I know this is the first time it will ever be used, the Soviets wanted to send someone back after the Stalin purges but they could not find a prophecy fit to send someone back with." Snape looks over at Professor Dumbledore's portrait. "You've been awfully quiet over there Albus, any thoughts?"

"No Severus, Pondera is exactly what I would have suggested. Though that still leaves the second half of the prophecy because I know that Pondera does not alter memories of the individual being sent back and Juliet needs to forget." Dumbledore thought for a few moments "though I can remedy that issue. Minerva on the bookshelf there is a notebook its on the third shelf down navy blue with stars on the spine. Open it up to the fifteenth page and there is your answer."

Ginny looks down at the page in question. "Aliquam Obstructio? What spell is that I've never heard of it before?"

McGonagall began to read "Aliquam Obstructio, Latin for mental obstruction, acts as a cure for PTSD. The intent of the caster can either choose whether to permanently hide the memories in question or to place up a mental block with which certain events or emotions can release memories to allow for mental healing. Written by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore November 23, 1975." Minerva looks up at Dumbledore's portrait. "This is a spell of your own creation isn't it Albus?"

"Yes Minerva it is. Three pages prior is also the recipe for Pondera. It takes about six months to brew which means you'll have some time to try and mull over the prophecy some more" Dumbledore winks at Minerva and Ginny.

* * *

**Later that day**

"It looks like the last ingredient in Pondera is a piece of parchment with the intended date of arrival written in Juliet's blood. It allows for safe travel to a specific time and the location is based on where the potion is consumed. For example if Juliet drinks the potion in the Great Hall she will wind up in the Great Hall in the past." Ginny looks over at McGonagall who is writing a letter. "Professor can't the letter wait we need to figure this out first." McGonagall finishes writing the letter and signs it with a flourish. "This is necessary." She hands it to Ginny to read "and we shouldn't have her sent anywhere indoors just because we don't know how she will land. I was thinking the grounds near Hagrid's home might not be a bad place to have her land."

January 1, 2010

Dear Rosalina and Paul,

Please let me apologize for what occurred today in your home.

As you know Sybil Trelawney is the Hogwarts Professor of Divination a subject regarding prophecy and the telling of the future. Sybil, beyond her abilities in the classroom is also what we refer to as a Seer, or someone who has the gift of Prophecy. What you witnessed in your home today was one of her very infrequent prophecies, the last one made in 1994, the night that Lord Voldemort rose back into being. Ginevra so quickly presumed due to the proximity to your daughter when Sybil stated this prophecy today meant that it was about Juliet, forgetting that locations do not matter in the statement of Sybil's prophecies, and may not have anything to do with Juliet. That being said I will keep a close eye on who I send out into the homes of future students so that an event like this does not occur again.

Regards,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Ginny reads the letter "okay… but how do we know that Rosalina and Paul will just forgive what happened?"

Professor McGonagall looks at Ginny "did they seem particularly mad? Did they throw you and Sybil out the door?"  
"Well… no, but they did seem shocked and upset. I don't see how a letter will fix that."

"No it probably won't. But, time and a solid apology will allow for them to recover from the shock of potentially thinking that their ten year old daughter is the main player in a prophecy that will take her away from them."

"Good point, but how will we be able to convince them, number one to leave Juliet alone with us for long enough, and number two not freak out when their daughter goes missing."

"We fabricate a school event for the rising first year muggle-borns. I believe the muggles call them open houses. It's a way for the students to meet each other and meet the teachers. We simply need to explain it to them in a way that highlights the anti-muggle spells in order for them to believe they simply can't be here on the school grounds, and afterward we may need to utilize a memory modification charm similar to the one that Hermione used on her parents prior to the war." Professor McGonagall looks at Ginny. "Satisfied now Mrs. Potter?"

Ginny nods "Well I suppose I can get behind that plan Minerva, even though I am not the biggest fan of erasing Juliet from her parents' lives. Now we just need to make it work. I can go take the letter up to the owlery to get the ball rolling and then I will meet you in the dungeons to get to work on Pondera."

Fifteen minutes later the two women get to work on the potion that will change the balance of the wizarding world forever.

Ginny reads over Professor Dumbledore's notes on the potion and begins to list off ingredients to McGonagall. "We need: 6 measures of butterscotch, 3 stalks of freshly chopped peppermint, 4 bundles of knotgrass, 4 measures of honey water, 5 whole daisy flowers picked at noon, pickled dandelion root, 3 sticks of cinnamon ground to a fine powder, and a piece of parchment with the date written in Juliet's blood… one of these things is not like the others..." Ginny laughs at her own little joke for a few moments and then looks at McGonagall. "These are all really accessible ingredients and the potion, other than it needing to sit and be stirred 3 times counterclockwise every 12 hours this potion is pretty self explanatory."

"Well then what are you waiting for? I don't think Horace has all of these on hand but they will have them available in the Hogsmeade apothecary." McGonagall hands Ginny a few galleons, "this should be enough to cover everything we will need for both Pondera."

* * *

**5 months later- May 1, 2010**

Ginny looks back down at the cauldron and carefully stirs only three times counterclockwise in order to not ruin the potion "five months in and you would hope the brewing process would get slightly more interesting… the potion hasn't changed at all since day one. Have you written the Bellows' letter yet?"

"Yes, it is sitting on Horace's desk along with their response to my first letter. I want you to read over both of them before I send mine out and let me know if it sounds like something Rosalina and Paul would be okay with letting their daughter attend."

Ginny picks up the letter from the Bellows and reads it.

January 7, 2010

Dear Professor McGonagall,

Thank you for your letter of apology. Paul and I were quite shaken up by the events that transpired in our home earlier this week. We had no idea that some witches and wizards had the "gift", as you put it, of prophecy. Shouldn't that be covered in the visits with the parents of your soon-to-be muggle-born students? You said that it was involved in a class called Divination. Is that a required course for our children to be telling the future like some conniving gypsy in the local traveling show? Though looking back I suppose Ginevra's response was as least rooted in some form of logic as there were a few small sections of the prophecy that could have related to Juliet or honestly to any other female born the same day as her. As I am sure you know Paul and I have been homeschooling Juliet since she was young and she has been very lonely this year. We didn't want to send her to a regular muggle school as we didn't want her to have a magical accident at school, it would have been much to difficult for us to cover up in our small town the neighbors would just never understand. The only child she's known while growing up other than her cousins that she sees very rarely is the other muggle-born in our town. He is a 2 and a half years older than Juliet and so he is halfway through his first year right now. I'm sure that Juliet will feel right at home within the walls of Hogwarts surrounded by people just like her. I'm sure you and your esteemed faculty will take wonderful care of our daughter while she attends Hogwarts.

Regards,

Rosalina and Paul Bellows

"Yikes, you know I never noticed this but Rosalina is actually very close minded to the wizarding world… 'people just like her'... 'magical accident'... 'the neighbors would just never understand'... she sounds just like the Dursleys. I'm sure that if they had really been able to think about it or just found out when Juliet turned eleven I don't think they ever would have let us into their home or let Juliet go to Hogwarts." Ginny looks down at the other letter in her hand hoping that it at least quells some of the problems that Rosalina has or else they were doomed.

May 1, 2010

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bellows,

I have not yet received a response to my owl sent back on the 15th of January to your concerns regarding what happened on the first of this year. I presume the letter must not have reached you, the owl I sent was old and never made it back to the school so I fear the worst for it. On another note the upcoming Open House for Hogwarts muggle-born students is next month. This is a good way for the muggle-born students that are a year out of starting school to get to know one another. As Juliet is set to begin at Hogwarts in September of this year this is her year to attend the open house. The open house is a day long orientation beginning at 7:30 AM and ending at 7:30 PM, all meals will be provided that day by the Hogwarts kitchen staff. It is a way to help those unfamiliar with most of the wizarding world to familiarize themselves with the school and its grounds. We will have two question and answer sessions, one with all of the teachers and another with a select group of students, to allow Juliet and the ten other muggle-born students in her year to ask any and all questions they may have regarding the school and classes. As I mentioned this orientation will include Juliet and ten other young witches and wizards from around the British Isles set to start at Hogwarts in the 2006-2007 school year. As you may have been able to guess by my wording thus far this orientation is only for the students. Unfortunately the school's founders and further laws made by the Ministry of Magic did not deem it appropriate for muggles to be able to wander onto the grounds of Hogwarts as there are many bans on revealing to muggles the nature of the wizarding world. For this reason I am afraid that only those who have wizarding powers will be able to attend. As headmistress I can assure you that I will be picking up, escorting around, and dropping off each and every student at his or her residence personally. The open house is on June 1st so please respond back with an owl as to whether or not Juliet will be in attendance. I have also attached a course sheet along with this letter to remind students of their courses for the year just in case they have any questions regarding them.

Regards,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Ginny starts laughing at the letter in her hand. "Minerva you really gave them everything that they gave you and then some… those are some really good laced words."

Minerva looks up from the cauldron. "How about you read the course sheet too I wrote it up specifically for the Bellows just so to put their minds at ease with what their daughter could be choosing to learn without any mind to what they would prefer her to be taking."

Ginny looks down at the separate sheet of parchment with the letter and starts to read the descriptions.

**Hogwarts Course Description 2010-2011 school year**

**Required Courses First and Second Year:**

**Astronomy:**

Professors teaching: Aurora Sinistra

Required Textbooks: None required

Course Description: Astronomy studies the movements of the planets and stars. This is similar to the Muggle practice of astronomy as students will also learn about the landscapes and environments present on the planets and their respective moons.

**Charms:**

Professors teaching: Filius Flitwick

Required Textbooks: _The Standard Book of Spells _

Course Description: Charms teaches students the basics of charm creation and casting. First years will learn basic charms such as levitation, wingardium leviosa, and unlocking, alohamora. Students will be able to develop their spell casting style and in later years will learn new methods of casting such as wandless or wordless spells.

**Defense Against the Dark Arts:**

Professors teaching: Draco Malfoy

Required Textbooks: _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _and _Th__e Standard Book of Spells_

Course Description: Defense Against the Dark Arts teaches not only how to defend against dark spells and magic, but also about different dark magical creatures that are not often taught in the Care of Magical Creatures elective. The course is designed to help protect students and allow for them to learn defensive magic.

**Flying (first year only):**

Professors teaching: Madame Hooch

Required Textbooks: None required

Course Description: Flying lessons are only offered to first year students and are designed to teach students the basics of broomstick flight. Parents must remember that first year students are not allowed their own broom, for lessons students will borrow brooms from the school.

**Herbology:**

Professors teaching: Neville Longbottom

Required Textbooks: _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

Course Description: Herbology is the study of magical and mundane plants and fungi. This is the magical equivalent to botany. Students will learn how to grow and care for various plants as well as how to utilize them for their magical properties.

**History of Magic:**

Professors teaching: Cuthbert Binns

Required Textbooks: _A History of Magic_

Course Description: History of Magic is a study of magical history. This is one of the few classes at Hogwarts that does not require a practical use of magic. This is a lecture based class in which emphasis is based on memorization of names, dates, and events.

**Potions:**

Professors teaching: Horace Slughorn

Required Textbooks: _Magical Drafts and Potions _

Course Description: In potions students will learn the correct way to brew potions. Students will follow recipes using both magical and non-magical ingredients to create potions that can be used for a variety of uses.

**Transfiguration:**

Professors teaching: Minerva McGonagall

Required Textbooks: _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

Course Description: Transfiguration teaches the art of changing the form and appearance of an object. This is the more scientific branch of spell casting, requiring a specific and steady hand when casting spells.

**Third Year through Seventh Year Electives:**

**Divination:**

Professors teaching: Sybil Trelawney and Firenze

Required Textbooks: _The Dream Oracle_ and _Unfogging the Future_

Course Description: Divination teaches methods of divining the future, or gathering insights into future events, through various rituals and tools. The magic taught in this class, as well as the ability to say prophetic things is a branch of magic referred to as "divination."

**Care of Magical Creatures:**

Professors teaching: Rubeus Hagrid

Required Textbooks: _The Monster Book of Monsters _and _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

Course Description: Care of Magical Creatures is the study of Magizoology. This course focuses on a wide range of magical creatures, from flobberworms to fire crabs, and even unicorns and thestrals. Students are taught about feeding, maintaining, breeding, and proper treatment of these various creatures.

**Arithmancy:**

Professors teaching: Septima Vector

Required Textbooks: _Numerology and Grammatica_

Course Description: Arithmancy is the study of numerology and predicting the future using numbers. The course focuses on writing essays that require the consultation and/or composition of complex number charts.

**Study of Ancient Runes:**

Professors teaching: Bathsheda Babbling

Required Textbooks: _Ancient Runes Made Easy, Rune Dictionary, Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, Spellman's Syllabary, _and_ Advanced Rune Translation_

Course Description: Ancient Runes is the study of runic scriptures. It is also referred to as Runology. This course focuses mainly on the theoretical portion of the topic studying the ancient runic scripts of magic.

**Muggle Studies:**

Professors teaching: Ernie Macmillan

Required Textbooks: _The Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_

Course Description: Muggle Studies is the non-magical studies portion of the curriculum. This course focuses on how Muggles life from the Wizarding perspective looking into how their daily lives and how they utilize things such as the Internet and electricity. This course is heavily suggested for those students who have grown up separate from the Muggle world as many aspects of life after Hogwarts may involve interactions with Muggles.

**Sixth and Seventh Year Electives:**

**Apparition lessons**:

Professors teaching: Official from the Ministry of Magic Office of Apparition

Course Description: Apparition is an optional twelve-week course offered at for learning how to Apparate. Apparition allows witches and wizards to willingly move ones body from one place to another by means of magic and great concentration of the place to which they are traveling. This course begins just after Christmas Break and only students who will be 17 by the start of the course or turn 17 by the end of that school year will be able to take the class.

The end of following week the response from the Bellows made its way to Hogwarts. Ginny read it out loud to Minerva who was working on some finishing touches for the potion and preparing everything that they will need to send Juliet back.

May 9, 2010

Dear Minerva,

Juliet will be in attendance at the Open House on June 1. Thank you for the course description it was very helpful in explaining to Juliet the classes she will be taking.

Rosalina Bellows

"Well to me that sounds like Rosalina told Juliet what electives she is supposed to pick out two years from now… What a controlling woman. If I ever tried doing that to my kids when they got older not only would they probably not speak to me but neither would Harry." Ginny sighed thinking about how miserable Juliet must be.

"Ginny the sad thing is most kids don't realize their parents are doing anything wrong like that unless someone points it out to them. It just appears like normal parent behavior." Minerva sighs knowing that had she ever had children she never would have been like that to them she knew all too well what a childhood like that can be like.

"Well, now that we are more than ready to remove Juliet from her home of controlling parents we should finish everything up and finish up the plan to deal with everything once she gets here."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know if there is anything you think I could improve on to make the story even better.**


	5. And I'm Almost There

**Here is Chapter 5 for all of you faithful readers.**

**I do not own Harry Potter because if I did there would have needed to be 14 movies because I wouldn't have wanted to cut anything out.**

* * *

**Chapter 5- And I'm almost there**

**August 29, 1989**

I wake up to Dora's excited banging on my bedroom door. I roll over and look at the clock on my nightstand and it says 7:30 AM. I groan and roll back over because it is way too early to be awake. I lay back on my bed listening to the sounds going on in the house around me. I sit up and look over at my calendar on the wall and the circled date jumps right out at me. I realize why everyone in my house is up so early and I quickly scramble out of bed. It's August 29th! The day that we head into London to pick up the rest of my school supplies because I leave soon. Mum rented the four of us rooms at the Leaky Cauldron that way we would be closer to King's Cross Station to get on the train. I made plans with Fred and George a few weeks ago to meet up in Diagon Alley when they come to get their school supplies because the three of us want to get our wands at the same time.

I walk over to my closet and throw on a pair of jean shorts and my new Holyhead Harpies t-shirt. Before the rest of the kids got back from Hogwarts dad and Arthur took Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and I to a Holyhead Harpies game against the Chudley Cannons and I absolutely loved it, I'm now even more excited to play Quidditch at Hogwarts than I already was. Ron, dad, and Arthur supported the Cannons who lost spectacularly to the Harpies. Ginny and I both vowed that once we graduated Hogwarts we would both play for the Harpies together since they are the only all female team in the British and Irish Quidditch League. Once everyone got back we finally had enough people to play 4 on 4 games. Fred and George began inviting over their new friend Lee Jordan to play with us because Percy was boring and didn't think playing Quidditch was a good use of his time. He would just sit under the large oak tree near the Quidditch clearing reading books. The one time I looked to see what he was doing he was reading a transfiguration book Fred and George claimed he was "trying to get ahead for next year" but I didn't see what was so wrong with that. I love reading books and I've been reading a few of Tonks' old school books from her first year because I find them interesting.

Speaking of the twins they've been planning these absolutely elaborate pranks along with Lee and myself to accomplish this upcoming year. I've been designated as the official lookout for all of our pranks. Fred and George know that some of the faculty knows me and so I could most likely get them out of any trouble.

I finish up getting ready to go and then I carry my mostly empty trunk down the stairs followed shortly by Tonks and her trunk. Mum, dad, Tonks, and I sit down to a breakfast of pancakes, sausages, and eggs punctuated mostly by small talk and people asking for the syrup. Once we finished breakfast I helped mum clear off the table.

"You ready to start at Hogwarts?" Mum inquires.

"Yeah, I mean I suppose that I am. I'm a bit nervous about the sorting mainly because I know that Fred and George and probably going to be in Gryffindor just like the rest of their family but I have absolutely no idea where I will end up. I don't want being sorted into another house to ruin my friendship with the two of them or Lee." I shrug letting off a sigh. I just kept thinking to myself I really just hope that I get sorted into Gryffindor with the twins.

She smiles at me "sweetheart don't worry, look at Tonks and her friends most of them aren't in the same house as her and they are thick as thieves, your father and I were in different houses as well and look where we wound up. It's all going to be alright."

I smile up at mum "thanks mum that's exactly what I needed to hear right now."

Mum, Dad, Tonks, and I all walk outside to where the Knight Bus is waiting to take us into London. Thirty minutes later I hear the Conductor yell out "Leaky Cauldron, London next stop!" and just moments afterward the bus comes to a jerking halt. We get off the bus and walk inside the pub and Tom the barman gives mum the keys to our rooms. We walk upstairs and mum hands Tonks the key to our room, which is right next door to mum and dads. We walk in our room and drop off our stuff. I send Artemis off with letters that I wrote to the twins and Hagrid while we were on the bus and Tonks lets Apollo out to go hunt. Once our owls were out the window and out of sight Tonks and I ran next door to our parent's room and knocked on their door. Dad answers and Tonks and I immediately ask, "can we go to Diagon Alley now? Please?"

Dad laughs and turns to mum. "What do you think Andy? Do you think we can go to Diagon Alley? They said please?"

Mum walks over to the three of us "well I suppose we could go now." and that's enough for us I start running for the stairs with Tonks right behind me… until she trips on her own shoelace and hits the ground.

"You okay?" I yell back to her and I get I a mumble from her that sounds like a yes and I take off again down the stairs as she stands back up and ties her shoe. Five minutes later we arrive at Gringotts Bank to take out money for schools supplies for Tonks and I. It's my first time inside the bank and I'm astounded at how beautiful the inside is with its white marble and crystal chandeliers. We all walk up to the goblin at the central podium and mum and dad let him know that they would like to make a withdrawal for their daughter's school supplies. The goblin, who introduces himself as Gornuk checks our key and, finding everything to be in order leads us to the cart that will take us to our vault. We all get in and the cart starts moving on its own. The cart keeps moving faster and faster and in the dark of the stone vaults I can't see where the floor is… it almost looks like it never ends. Worried that I'm going to fly of the bumpy cart I grab Tonks' hand and I squeeze it and she squeezes back and gives me a smile. We finally reach our vault and I practically launch myself out of the cart anxious to be back on solid ground. Mum and dad walk with Tonks and I into the vault and I gasp. I had no idea my family had so much money. Tonks explains what all of the coins are to me "The big gold ones are the Galleons. They are worth 17 of the smaller silver coins called Sickles and 493 of the little bronze coins called Knuts." Mum hands Tonks and I each an empty coin pouch and tells us to each take out 30 Galleons for anything we may need at school. I count out my money and close up the pouch. After Tonks and I have our money safely tucked away we get back into the cart and begin the bumpy ride back up to the surface. After we leave the bank Tonks drags dad off with her to go get the new textbooks that she needs for her sixth year leaving mum and I to do my shopping. I look down at my supply list for this year to see what I need to get.

**First Year Students will require:**

Uniform

3 sets of plain work robes (black)

1 plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

1 pair protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

1 winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

7 sets of uniform attire (white button down, black skirt or slacks)

2 school ties (please note that a first year student's tie will not have house colors on them until they are sorted)

Books

_The Standard Book of Spells_ (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander edited by Rolf and Luna Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble

Students may also purchase if they so desire _Hogwarts, a History_ by Bathilda Bagshot and _Quidditch Through the Ages _by Kennilworthy Whisp

Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring an Owl OR a cat OR a toad

Parents are reminded that first years are not allowed their own broomsticks

I look up at mum, "where to first?"

She briefly looks down at the list "Madame Malkins first. That's the best place to get all of the clothing you need for school."

Mum and I walk in and a very pretty woman close to mum's age behind the counter asked, "first year, Hogwarts?" I nod as she gestures for me to follow her into the back. I stand up on the platform for measuring while a tape measure flies around me taking all of my measurements. To pass the time until the uniforms are done I look at the gloves that are on display and I pick out a pair of pretty purple dragon hide gloves. The woman calls me over and has me select which silver fastening I want for my winter cloak and I pick the one that has accents in the shape of roses, my favorite flower. By this time all that needs to be done for the uniforms is fitting on the fastener so I get handed a uniform set to try on while that finishes. I walk out of the dressing room to try on the now finished cloak. Deciding that everything fits just fine I change back into my normal clothes and hand my robes back to the woman who folds them and sends them to my room at the Leaky Cauldron. I love not having to carry all of my bags around with me when I go shopping. Mum walks up to the counter and pays for my clothing and we leave.

Next, we head over to Flourish and Blotts where I pick up all of my textbooks as well as the optional reading. I wander through the aisles of the bookstore astounded by all of the commotion of the books flying between shelves. I grab all of the books that I need to get and walk up to mum who is waiting by the cash register to pay. The man behind the counter rings up the books and has them sent to my room as well. After we finish up at Flourish and Blotts mum and I meet up with dad and Tonks at Florean Fortescue's for "our pre-lunch dessert" as Tonks called it. My family has this weird habit of always eating some small sweet before we sit down to have lunch. I order my favorite ice cream combination, peppermint ice cream with chocolate shell. After ice cream we head over to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch and we go back up to our rooms as we all decided during lunch to call it a day as far as shopping goes. Tonks and I excuse ourselves from the table and walk back up to our room.

When Tonks and I walk into our room I notice Artemis already waiting with a response for me from the twins. "Well that was fast. I guess the twins already had something ready to send." Artemis hoots at me looking like she is ready to go hunting so I take my letter from her and let her go out the window. I look down at the letter in my hand and notice I have two one for me and one for Tonks. "Tonks Charlie's written you a letter," I tell her as I sit down on my bed and start reading my letter. I open the one from the twins now anxious to see when they will be coming to Diagon Alley for supplies.

August 29, 1989

To our dearest friend Juliet,

Mum just told us today that we are getting our school supplies on the 30th so make sure you save getting your wand for then! Ginny and Ron have been moping around the house all week; they don't want to be the only ones stuck at home all year so mum told them that they had to stay home with dad and could meet us at the station to say goodbye. See you soon!

Your most wonderful prankster twins,

Fred and George

I roll over and start to go to sleep, as I drift off I hear Tonks say, "yeah, no problem."

I wake up to Tonks sitting on my legs at the end of my bed "get off" and I kick my legs until she gets up.

"That's the thanks I get for waking you up when you asked… rude." she laughs and walks over to her bed and goes to put on her shoes. "Did you want to see if mum and dad will go exploring with us for a little bit before dinner?"

"Yeah maybe once I have a little more feeling in my legs. Give me another minute to wake up." I sit up and throw my socks and sneakers back on. "Okay lets go" and the two of us knock on our parents door. Mum answers it looking like she just rolled out of bed as well.

"Hey mum," Tonks says, "Juliet and I were wondering if we could go walk around Diagon Alley and maybe go to Quality Quidditch supplies just to look around. I know Juliet said she wanted to look at broom servicing kits for her Cleansweep."

"Well I suppose you can go. Have fun and be back by 6:30 for dinner" Tonks nods and mum closes the door, probably to go back to sleep.

"I don't actually need a broom servicing kit just yet Tonks. I only got the broom in June." I tell Tonks as we walk down the stairs.

"I know you don't but I couldn't exactly tell her that I wanted to go to Gambol and Japes to start stocking up on Filibuster's Fireworks for this year." Tonks must have noticed the look on my face because she continued, "don't look so shocked. Fred and George aren't the only pranksters you know."

"I figured they weren't I just never pegged you for the fireworks type of pranking. I thought you would use your metamorphmagus skill to prank people." I laugh as we walk into Diagon Alley.

"I tried using my skill, as you so eloquently put it, but I can only willingly change so much and people wouldn't usually fall for them unless they were really thick." Tonks shakes her head. "Never mind that, lets go get me some fireworks and then I want to go to Sugarplum's and pick up some chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties since they are cheaper here than on the train." We get to Gambol and Japes and Tonks quickly grabs what she needs. She walks up to the counter and the man standing behind it strikes up a conversation with Tonks while she pays. I hear him laugh, presumably at some prank that Tonks pulled this past year and then Tonks walks over to me. As we leave Tonks yells out "until next year Jones!" once we are outside Tonks tells me about the guy behind the counter. "He used to be a phenomenal pranker while he was at school, graduated a year before I got there. Everyone at Hogwarts knew who he was so Charlie and I became determined to beat his pranking record. We surpassed him in about third year or so Charlie and I just do some minor pranks around the school nowadays. I'm sure Fred and George will have definitely outshined the two of us many times over before they leave school." I nod agreeing with Tonks, between the twins schemes and my reasoning there is no way our pranks wouldn't go down in Hogwarts history as some of the best. We walk into Sugarplum's and I'm immediately blown away by all of the candy and sugar that surrounds me. I grab one of the baskets and start putting candy into it: five chocolate frogs, five pumpkin pasties, a packet of droobles, and a box of cauldron cakes. Feeling satisfied with what I grabbed I walk up to the cashier and give her the basket to ring me up.

"Your total is one Galleon and twelve Sickles my dear." I hand the woman two Galleons and as she is giving me back my change Tonks walks up with her candy ready to purchase. Tonks pays for her candy and off we go back to our room to drop off our purchases before dinner with mum and dad. As we walk up the stairs I accidentally bump into someone and we both stop. I look up to see who it is I bumped into and I realize it's another girl who looks to be about my age with dark skin and deep brown eyes. "Sorry about that. I'm Juliet I'll be a first year at Hogwarts this year."

The girl smiles at me "I'm Angelina Johnson, I'll also be a Hogwarts first year this year."

I smile back "It was really nice to meet you Angelina but my mum and dad are expecting my sister and I back for dinner soon so I need to go. Hopefully I'll see you on the train and we can have more time to talk."

She nods "Definitely! I will see you then Juliet."

"See you then Angelina." I say as I follow Tonks up the stairs.

* * *

**August 31, 1989**

This morning I wake up before Tonks does and so I take that opportunity to wake her up by tickling her feet with one of her quills that she left out on the table. She squeals and immediately pulls her feet up as close to her body as possible.

"Okay, okay I'm up you win. What time is it?" She yawns and closes her eyes again.

I look up at the clock on the wall that says nine o'clock, but because Tonks woke me up so rudely from my nap yesterday I take the opportunity to mess with her "it looks like its about eleven o'clock right now."

That wakes her up right away "eleven o'clock! But the Weasley's were supposed to be here by ten! Why did you not wake me up when they got here?" She starts scrambling around the room to get dressed and brush her hair.

I laugh at how crazy she looks with her hair sticking up all over the place "well seeing as it's only nine they still aren't here."

Tonks looks at me "but you just said it was eleven? Didn't you?"

"Who me? No I said nine, maybe you should get your hearing checked out." I laugh and I can tell Tonks knows I'm lying.

"You little prankster. See I told you that twins and you were a match made in friendship heaven." She laughs acknowledging that I got her. "Though you do know this means war right? There is no way I'm going to let anyone, even my baby sister get one over on me."

"Whatever you say Dora.", I smile at her as she stops frantically trying to put herself together for the day. She finishes up getting ready and we head downstairs to eat breakfast, and wait for the arrival of our favorite family of red-heads.

"Juliet! Juliet! Over here!" I hear Fred and George before I see them. I turn and look over at the fireplace where they just arrived by Floo. I get up from the table and run to them a wide smile splashed across my face from ear to ear.

"Fred! George!" I scream as I run right into a hug from Fred who promptly picks me up and spins me around. As soon as my feet are on the floor I get pulled back up into a hug and into the air by George "Hi Georgie" I say as he puts me down. Molly walks over to the three of us.

"Boys I need to go to Gringotts to take out money for supplies this year. You two are welcome to wait here with Juliet until I get back."

"Okay mum, see you when you get back." Fred says. Fred and George both turn to me as their mother walks away. "Juliet you won't believe the pranks we've come up with since the last time we saw you.

"Oh I can only imagine." I say as they pull me over to an empty table in the corner to tell me all about their ideas.

About ten minutes later Molly comes back with Mum right behind her and they take us over to Ollivander's to get our wands. We walk into the dusty old shop and I look around at all of the wand boxes up on the shelves. There must be at least ten thousand wands in here.

Fred jolts me out of my reverie "okay so who is going to go first?"

"I'll go first" and I walk up to the counter and ring the bell. Mr. Ollivander walks over.

"Ah the new Miss Tonks here for her first wand." He says with a smile.

"Very well" and he walks over to the shelf and pulls out a box. He hands me the wand inside "Birch wood, unicorn hair core, ten and three-quarter inches, pliable, this wand is good for charms. Go on and give it a wave." I give the wand a small flick and nothing happens. "Okay, not this wand." He walks back over to the shelves and grabs a few more boxes. "Perhaps this one, ash wood, dragon heartstring core, 9 inches, quite bendy." Once again I give the wand a small wave only this time I accidentally blow out all of the candles in the store. Ollivander relights everything and hands me the third wand "Try this one. It's ebony wood which is good for charms and transfiguration, phoenix feather core, 9 and a half inches, rigid." I grab the wand and all of a sudden I feel this warm glow fill me up from my hand down to my toes.

"Mr. Ollivander I think this is the one." I smile up at the old man and he smiles back.

"Yes Juliet I do believe you are right." Mum pays him for the wand and then Fred steps up to take his turn at receiving a wand. Ollivander looks down at Fred and grins "you have quite the mischievous glint in your eye young Mr. Weasley I know exactly which wand you need." He climbs up the ladder to grab a wand from all the way at the top of the shop. "Here we are, this wand is dogwood, unicorn hair core, 10 inches, and reasonably springy." Fred grabs the wand and I see a golden light surround him. "Yes, that's the one for you." George steps up next Ollivander looks at George and smiles "I see a kind look in your eye young man. I think an alder wand would suit you best." He walks over to the shelf behind him and grabs a box. "This one is alder wood, with a dragon heartstring core, 11 inches, and reasonably pliant." He hands George the wand that makes him also gains that golden glow of light and smiles. "Good, that one is yours my dear boy." Molly pays for the twins' wands and then we leave. The twins go with Molly to get their books but promise to come back in time for lunch. Mum and I go back to the Leaky Cauldron where I show my new wand to Tonks and dad. During lunch I tell Fred and George how I pranked Tonks before they got to Diagon Alley and they both laughed at my description of her running around the room trying to get ready. After lunch we convince mum and Molly to let us go exploring Diagon Alley and the three of us go to Gambol and Japes where we buy the supplies to set off the best pranks Hogwarts has ever seen. We spend the rest of the day together and at the end of the night I find myself unable to fall asleep. After tossing and turning for an hour I finally decide to go downstairs to see if Tom the barman has any ideas to help me get to sleep. I go down the stairs and realize I'm not the only one who couldn't get to sleep as Fred is sitting down at one of the tables talking to Tom. I walk over to the two of them and sit down next to Fred who is drinking a glass of warm milk.

Fred looks over at me "couldn't sleep either Juliet?"

"No I'm way too excited to sleep right now. I just want to be at Hogwarts already." I look over at Tom who is nodding as though he remembers the last night he spent before going to Hogwarts "can I have one of what he's having?"

"Of course you can Juliet. Warm milk is just the thing to help you get to sleep." He smiles at me and continues, "I remember just how excited I was the night before I went to Hogwarts. The years may change but the feelings do stay the same."

Fred turns to me "George knocked out like a light when we got into the room, not a clue in the world how he did it though. I keep thinking about the sorting ceremony. I don't know what I'll do with myself if George and I get split up. I care more about being in a house with George than being in Gryffindor though I suppose I'll get called first so honestly I don't know if it will happen."

"I understand completely Freddie. Not necessarily because I don't want to be separated from Dora but I don't want to be separated from Lee, George, and you." He smiles.

"Awww Juliet I didn't realize just how much you cared." We both laugh at his facetious comment but then he continues "On a much more serious note. I feel the same way. I just really hope the four of us wind up together."

I yawn, "well I think the warm milk worked because I'm falling asleep sitting here." I stand up "goodnight gentlemen, thanks for the milk Tom, and Fred I will see you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight Tom I'm going to head up to my room as well. I'll walk up with you Juliet." The two of us walk up the stairs to head to our respective rooms. Fred and I reach my room first and before I walk in the door I pull Fred in for a hug. After we break apart Fred continues down the hall towards his room. I walk into my room and lay down in my bed and within minutes I'm asleep.

* * *

**September 1,1989**

I wake up with the sunlight shining into my window and walk over to Tonks' bed. I grab her shoulder and give her a small shake to wake her up seeing as it is already eight o'clock and the train leaves in three hours on the dot. Tonks opens her eyes and I tell her the time and we both start to get ready. I throw on a pair of jeans and a purple long sleeve blouse and run a brush through my long dark brown wavy hair. I look up at my reflection in the mirror and not noticing anything amiss with what I see looking back at me I relinquish the mirror for Tonks to control. For the first time since I moved in the with the Tonks' I see Dora putting effort into her hair and she even puts on a little makeup. I had a feeling that Tonks had a boy she liked because of the way she would hide away in her room after she got certain owls but now I know for certain. There is no way that she would do that for just anyone. "So Dora, what is his name?" She turns around to face me.

"What ever do you mean Jules?" I smile because I can tell I've got her all flustered.

"Well" I continue, "you are wearing makeup and shoes that don't look like they are about to fall apart."

She sighs because she knows I've caught on "it's Charlie… I've been trying not to develop feelings for him because I know we are friends but every time he makes passing remarks about pretty girls he always seems to like the girls who wear makeup so I've decided to give it a try… Does it look okay?"

"Dora first of all, breathe. You're no good to anyone if you faint because you don't take in enough air. Second of all, yes you look very pretty. Though personally I don't think you need makeup because you are pretty just the way you are."

She grins at me and nods and I'm glad that I was able to get through to her. "You always know what to say Juliet. I guess it explains why you have such good friendships already."

"I suppose that could be…" I start to respond to Tonks but then dad knocks on the door

"Jules, Dora are you ready to go downstairs for breakfast?" He shouts through the heavy door.

I yell back through the door "give us another five and then we will be down." I turn back to Tonks "now where was I, oh yes, that could be true or it could just be that Fred and George wouldn't be able to have a successful pranking scheme without me" and we both laugh. I give her a hug and we walk out the door to join everyone for breakfast. I walk over to the twins and plop down in the empty seat between them.

"Good morning everyone" I declare as I reach over and grab a few pancakes, some bacon, and the bottle of maple syrup. Once I have the food on my plate I douse it all in a liberal coating of the syrup.

Fred looks at me like I've just said that I want to be a Slytherin and freaks out over my choice of bacon topping "you put syrup on your bacon" he utters as though in disbelief.

"Hey it's good. Don't knock it until you try it" and I hand him a piece of my syrup coated bacon.

He tries it and grins "you know what Juliet this actually is really good" and with that he leans over and steals some of the bacon off my plate.  
"Hey! That was mine! Go get your own bacon!" I jokingly swat at his arm and we both laugh as we both reach for more bacon.

At ten o'clock my family and the Weasley's all take a Ministry shuttle from the Leaky Cauldron to King's Cross Station so that we can board the train. We get to King's Cross and then slowly one at a time we go through the barrier to get to Platform 9 ¾. By the time we all got onto the platform it was almost a quarter till eleven and so mum and dad help Tonks and I load our trunks and owls onto the train. After everything is loaded mum and dad pull us aside to say goodbye. Mum and dad give each of us a hug and I tell them that I promise to send a letter tonight after the sorting to let them know which house I get sorted into. With that Tonks and I board the train and I look for an empty compartment to sit in with the twins and Lee. Walking down the train I see Angelina in a compartment by herself. I poke my head in and she looks up at me.

"Hey Angelina!" I smile brightly at her and she smiles back.

"Hey Juliet! Are you looking for a place to sit?" As I'm about to respond Fred, George, and Lee show up and ask me if I've found a place for us to sit.

Angelina laughs and responds for me "yes, she has, unless you mind another first year sitting in your carriage."

The boys all look at Angelina and George and Lee immediately sit down on either side of her assuring her that they had no issues at all with the seating situation. A few minutes later another first year that Angelina introduced to us as Alicia joined us in our carriage just as the train left King's Cross bound for Hogsmeade Station.

As soon as we can no longer see London anymore I decide to break the silence that fell over the carriage. "So what houses do you want to get sorted into?"

Angelina responds very quickly "Gryffindor, definitely." and I notice that everyone else gives affirmative nods to this statement.

Alicia pipes up "my mum was in Gryffindor when she went to Hogwarts and she's always kind of pushed the idea of being in Gryffindor onto me. I honestly don't know what I would do if I was sorted anywhere else."

George looks at Alicia with an empathetic look "Totally understand that one, our mum and dad as well as all three of our older brothers got sorted into Gryffindor so I don't think Fred and I would get very far being placed in another house."

At that I decide it's time to enter the conversation "My mum was in Slytherin, my dad was in Ravenclaw, and my sister is a Hufflepuff. I just hope that I manage Gryffindor in order to have a complete group under my roof."

The six of us spend the next few hours on the train talking, playing exploding snap, and eating the snacks that we got from the trolley. Percy eventually comes by our carriage and informs us in the most pompous voice I've ever heard that we are almost to Hogwarts and that we must put on our robes. Finally after what seemed like hours after Percy came by we arrive at Hogsmeade station and the six of us disembark the train.

I see Hagrid at the end of the platform holding a lantern and beckoning us over "Firs' years! Firs' years! All Firs' years to me!" I run over to Hagrid to give him a hug and manage to wrap my arms around about a quarter of his huge body. He looks down and smiles at me before wrapping an arm around me "Juliet! I was going to respond to your owl but I thought it best we just discuss everything that's been happening with you over a cuppa tea after yer firs' week."

I pull away from the hug and smile at Hagrid "I would love to come over for tea. I'm sure I'll have so much to tell you."

Once all of the first years finally gather around Hagrid he leads us over to the lake where there are at least 25 small boats waiting. "Four to a boat" I hear Hagrid say and my friends and I decide to split three and three. George and Lee follow Angelina to a boat and Alicia comes with Fred and I. We are joined by another first year named Annabella Scotts who tells us that she wants to be in Ravenclaw just like her parents. After everyone gets settled into a boat Hagrid waves his arm and the boats all start to move across the lake. After about ten minutes we get to a curtain of ivy hanging down from a stone bridge that cuts across the skinniest part of the lake. I reach up and push aside the ivy and the four of us all gasp. Hogwarts looks beautiful in the night sky because you can see all of the castle illuminated by the torches and windows.

We reach the other side of the lake and file into the main hall where Professor McGonagall meets us. She begins to speak "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now while you're here your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the houses with the most points is awarded the house cup. Now follow me." Professor McGonagall leads us to the door right outside the Great Hall. "Once we walk through these doors we will be in the Great Hall. From there I will call your names alphabetically and you will step forward to be sorted." With that said she opens the doors to the Great Hall where all of the other students are already sitting down. Once all of the first years are inside Professor McGonagall begins calling names. I zone out and begin to look around the room at all of the decoration. Angelina brushing past me to go get sorted knocks me back into the present and I watch her sit down on the stool and promptly get sorted into Gryffindor. Lee is the next one called and he also gets sent right over to the Gryffindor table. I look over at the staff table and lock eyes with Professor Dumbledore who gives me a wink and before I know it Annabella gets her name called. I see her smile brightly as the Sorting Hat places her into Ravenclaw. Then it is Alicia's turn. She puts the hat on and after a minute or so of deliberation places her into Gryffindor as well. Between Alicia and I there are three people called all of which get placed into Hufflepuff. Then I hear Professor McGonagall call out "Tonks, Juliet." I hear murmuring around the room, most of which I'm sure is due to the fact that not many people knew that Dora was no longer an only child. I put the hat on my head and I hear it talking in my head "Ah, yes, you are quite the special case Ms. Bellows."

"Bellows?" I think hoping the hat understands "so that is my last name?"

"Yes indeed it is" the Sorting Hat responds "hmmm lets see here. You are very bright and also very kind Ravenclaw would be lucky to have you."

I think back to my friends on the train and how much I want to be with them and the Sorting Hat begins again.

"Very loyal to your new friends indeed and very brave. You may not realize this my dear but what you did to come here took a lot bravery. I know just where to put you." I hear the hat yell out to the Great Hall. "Gryffindor!" I take the hat off and leave it on the stool and run over to where my new friends and now housemates are waiting for me. I get huge hugs from both of the girls and Lee and we sit and wait for the twins to be called. Soon enough McGonagall reads off Fred's name and before the hat is even completely on his head it yells out Gryffindor. All of us begin to cheer and our celebration just continues when George rounds out our group with a final Gryffindor. The opening year feast begins with a few nonsense words from Dumbledore and before long we are all stuffed and heading up to the Gryffindor common room for the first time. We follow Charlie and the other Gryffindor prefects up to the common room and the give us the first password, magna aurem. The six of us walk inside and all run for the couches by the fire so that we could continue to talk.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I know Tonks seems a little OOC but there also isn't much source material to go off of in the books. Tonks pined for Remus for a long time and it caused her to change her appearance so I could hypothetically see a teenage Tonks acting like this over a long-term crush that doesn't seem to notice her. Fred, George, and Tonks will be a lot more fleshed out in this story as compared to the books.**


	6. These are the Best Days of Our Lives

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter. I wish I did but I don't.**

* * *

**Chapter 6- These are the best days of our lives**

**September 3, 1989- The Gryffindor Common Room**

* * *

After a long day of exploring the castle the six of us get back to the common room to relax after dinner. "How about we tell the story of our first signs of magic? I'll start." She sits down on one of the couches and waves everyone over to sit and chat. I look around mildly concerned at the potentially problematic conversation for me because I can't remember anything prior to the first of this year.

Fred looks over at me with concern etched into his usually smiling face. "Are you okay Juliet?" I shake my head and Fred then pulls me aside to chat. "We'll be right back. Save the story till we get back Angelina?"

Once we are across the Common Room sitting in the nook by the bay window Fred begins to speak. "George and I know. Did you know that?"

I shake my head, "I had a feeling you might because of Charlie and Tonks."

He smiles, "Yeah Mum told us because Charlie wouldn't shut up about how lucky Tonks felt to have you around, because she didn't have any siblings, really wanted one, and then all of a sudden, poof, you show up. She didn't want any of us asking questions that would make you uncomfortable especially Ron and Ginny. If you don't feel comfortable telling everyone now I can make up an excuse for you if you don't want to deal with it."

"Thank you Fred. I mean it's better sooner rather than later with something like that." I give him a huge hug and we walk back over to the group. "Hey Angelina, can you postpone your story for another quick second there is something about me that all of you should know."

"Be my guest Jules." Angelina smiles at me and I grin hearing the familiar nickname Tonks gave me a few months back.

I take a deep breath and begin my story, "Okay, so first of all whatever I say here needs to remain a secret among the six of us." Once I see every give me some kind of affirmative head nod I continue. "First of all my last name isn't actually Tonks, they are fostering me for the time being and it was just easier to take their last name. I have no idea who my parents are or if they are even magical. I woke up on the Hogwarts grounds January 1st of this year with absolutely no memories. I still have no clue what my last name is, and the only reason I know my first name is because of the Hogwarts roster. Even the roster didn't even know my last name. I've been living with the Tonks' ever since that day because they offered to take me in when Dumbledore asked." I paused and looked around at my new friends. Fred and George smile at me and Fred gives me a thumbs up.

To my surprise no one really questions my story. I was expecting doubt and a whole boatload of questions so I'm just glad that they just took me at my word.

"Shall we get back to the topic at hand?" Seeing nods all around I begin, "so it's more than likely not the first time I actually used magic but, the first time I remember using magic was about a week into living with the Tonks' and I was making myself a cup of tea in the kitchen. I accidentally dropped my tea cup and got so worried that mum or dad would be upset with me for breaking it that I started to cry. My mum came rushing in worried I had hurt myself and when I looked back up at the counter to explain what happened the cup was sitting there as though I had never dropped it. Would you like to go Ange?"

She smiles at me, happy that I've given her a nickname to match mine "Sure Jules I guess I can go now. I was six and my mum and dad were going out of town for the weekend and we're going to leave me with my aunt and uncle that I really didn't like. The day they were supposed to leave I threw a tantrum about having to go and managed to magically hide all of the clothing they had packed all around the house. They picked up their suitcases to put them in the shuttle and realized they were empty."

Fred jumps in, "so did they still leave you with your aunt and uncle?"

Angelina laughs, "Yeah, they packed new clothing and still left on their trip, but we kept finding clothing in really odd places around the house for months after that."

I giggle trying to picture my mum finding a shirt stuffed in a teapot when she goes to make her morning tea. It takes Angelina a few minutes to quiet the boys down who have now taken to asking her where they found her mothers drawers, laughing like a group of hyenas. Once they are finally quiet she turns to Alicia, "Allie would you like to go and round off the girls?"

"Sure thing Ange. I was eight when I first showed my magical ability. My dad is a muggle and so my mom was starting to get worried that I turned out to be non-magical like my father, especially since my dad and I were very close in personality and temperament. Not that she has anything against Muggles, quite obviously since she married one. She just really wanted a child to go to Hogwarts and I was the only one she had. How it actually happened was kind of silly though, I was walking down the stairs and I tripped and fell and rather than landing on stairs, rolling down them, and getting hurt I landed on a slide that just carried me down safely. It took my mum a while to get the slide to turn back into stairs but she was okay with that because she knew that I had magical abilities just like her. Plus she now has a feeling that I would be good with transfiguration just like her because of the spontaneous changing of stairs into a slide that I did." She looks around the room and stops at Fred and George. "How about the two of you go together because I have a feeling your stories are intertwined."

Fred laughs "well Allie you are actually very correct, George and I actually showed our first signs of magic within five minutes of each other. We were five and we both really wanted some of our mum's fresh baked cookies before we had dinner. Mum kept saying that we had to wait until after dinner to have a cookie but we knew that if we waited that long they wouldn't be as warm or fresh tasting. So George got so upset that he managed to flip over the dining room table and chairs. I noticed this and so once mum was distracted I just tried concentrating really hard on the cookie jar and imagining it flying into my hands and it did just that. Before mum could get back into the kitchen the cookie jar was safely up in our room and George and I were feasting on the cookies. The only downside was that we didn't count on the stomachache we got from eating the whole jar of cookies. We felt awful the rest of the night and mum made us deal with it on our own." I laugh picturing little five-year-old Fred and George complaining about tummy aches to their mother. Fred looks at me and winks. Fred looks around the common room as though looking for the next person to go after a few minutes he finally says, "well I guess there is no one else who needs to go."

Lee clears his throat and then Fred looks over at him and smiles, "wait Lee, you're magical? I thought you were a squib this whole time!"

Lee laughs "hardy har har Fred thanks for the vote of confidence it's so uplifting. It looks like with the possible exception of Juliet I was the earliest bloomer. My first sign of magic was when I was two. My mum brought me the wrong stuffed animal to sleep with one night and after she told me I needed to deal with it and just go to sleep I started crying. When she got fed up with my crying that she could hear down the hall she went to go find the toy I wanted. When she came into my room to tell me that she couldn't find it and I just needed to go to sleep all of my stuffed animals from around the house were now sitting on top of my bed, and I was already passed out snuggled with the very toy she was trying to find."

Ange, Allie and I all send out a chorus of "awww" but the boys have a very different method of handling the story.

Fred and George both start up, "awwww little Lee needs his stuffed animal to sleep. Does little Lee still sleep with his stuffed animal? Is he going to cry if he can't find it."

Lee flushes bright red and gets up to walk away when I turn to the twins.

"Hey knock it off you two. Can't you see that you are embarrassing him." I look over at Lee, "sit back down Lee. I'll keep them in line."

His face goes back to its normal color and he sits and smiles at me, "thanks Juliet."

I smile back, "anytime."

After a few more hours of talking laughing, and keeping the twins in line I stand up. "As much fun as today has been I am exhausted. I'm going to head up to the dormitory. Ange and Allie I'll see you upstairs and boys I will see you tomorrow at breakfast. Good night."

After a chorus of five good nights I walk up the flight of stairs to the dormitory that the first year girls share. I've seen the two other girls that Angie, Alicia, and I share a room with, but other than at night it's mostly just been in passing. Just my luck the irritating nosy Nancy that is in Dora's year has a younger sister who also got sorted into Gryffindor, and from what I've heard she is just as irritating as her older sister. I realized that I had forgotten to write mum and dad updating them on my first day at Hogwarts, and decide that I need to write my letter before I head to bed.

I barely get the opening written down before the younger Holmes acknowledges my presence. "Hey Juliet, your last name is Tonks right? My sister Nancy Holmes is in your sister's year has she ever mentioned her? You are adopted right? Do you know who your parents are? Do you know your blood status? Not that I mind your blood status or anything, but it's always good thing to know just in case you happen to like someone who does mind. I wonder if the Weasley twins mind. Do you know if they mind? Fred is really cute. Don't you think he's cute? I think he might be even cuter than George. Are you even listening to me?" I groan and look up from my now mostly complete first paragraph.

"Yes Elizabeth, I'm listening. It's nice to meet you and Isabella. Yes, Tonks has mentioned your sister. No, I'm not adopted I'm being fostered by the Tonks' for the time being, and may get adopted in the future. No, I do not know who my biological parents are or what my blood status is and quite frankly I do not care what it is nor do I care if you do. The Weasley's father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and is fascinated with the Muggles and their technology so no I don't think that they mind. Fred and George are both my best friends; so, no I don't think about whether or not my best friends are cute. We are also only eleven, it's hardly time to start noticing boys especially since they grow up and what they look like and act like change dramatically. Now if you'll excuse me Elizabeth I would like to finish this letter to my parents because they asked me to write them about which house I am in." I now understand why Tonks can't stand her sister Nancy, because if she is anything like Elizabeth then she must be annoying.

Elizabeth gives me a narrowed look in response "How rude. I was only asking you a question you didn't need to get so snippy with me. I am going to go down to the common room. Are you coming Isabella?"

"No thank you Elizabeth. I am going to get ready for bed." Isabella replies and shortly afterward Elizabeth is out the door. Isabella turns to me, "sorry about Elizabeth. She can be very easily offended over nothing."

I look over at Isabella and smile, "it's fine. What I didn't tell her is that the only Tonks has mentioned about her older sister is how nosy she is. So I'm kind of glad she decided not to push that subject." We both laugh. "Now I am sorry Isabella but I would like to finish this letter to my parents before I head off to bed."

"That's fine. I think I'll go take a shower before bed. Good luck with your letter." Isabella stands up and walks into the bathroom.

I finally finish up the last sentence and read it over to make sure that it sounds okay.

Dear mum and dad,

Sorry for not writing to you my first night here, I was trying to settle into school and hadn't found a spare few minutes to write. Guess what? I'm in Gryffindor House! Fred and George also got sorted into Gryffindor but that didn't surprise me, I think their brothers would have disowned them had they been sorted anywhere else. My new friends from the train Angelina and Alicia also were sorted into Gryffindor as well as Fred and George's friend Lee. I think we are all going to get along really well. I told them how I came to live with you and they accepted it with a lot fewer questions than I expected. We've spent the first few days exploring the castle and getting to know the layout of the grounds.

The Gryffindor tower is so pretty and welcoming I wish the two of you could see it. I can see all of the Hogwarts grounds from up here! I can't wait for classes to start tomorrow, I'm so excited to get my schedule tomorrow and see what house I have which classes with. I hope that I don't have Slytherin for potions because I heard that Snape is always harder on the house he has with Slytherin.

Anyways, I hope you are both doing well and not missing me too much. Before you know I'll be home for Christmas.

I love you,

Juliet

It occurs to me that I should probably also send a letter to Hagrid to let him know that I'm all settled into the dormitory. Before I give Artemis the letter for mum and dad I quickly scribble one for Hagrid.

Dear Hagrid,

As I'm sure you saw during the sorting ceremony I'm a Gryffindor. I'm so excited because all of my friends got sorted there as well. I'm all settled in to the dormitory. I hope you and Fang are doing well. I hope to see you soon.

Love,

Juliet Tonks

I turn to Artemis and hand her both of the letters. "Can you deliver Hagrid's first? I'm sure he will give you a treat." Artemis coos out a response that I'm hoping means yes and I let her out into the dark night. As she disappears from sight I get ready for bed and within a few minutes of laying down I'm fast asleep.

* * *

**September 4, 1989**

I wake up to the sound of Elizabeth singing off key in the shower. Isabella, Angie, and Allie are all sitting up looking just about as groggy as I feel so I'm assuming she woke them up as well. Isabella looks over at the three of us and grimaces, "I'm so sorry guys I'll go get her to shut up."

I look over at Isabella, feeling sorry for the fact that she got landed with Elizabeth as a friend, "thanks Isabella, though you know you don't need to apologize for her all the time."

She looks over at me from the doorway of the bathroom "I know I don't but I know she won't so I feel like its the nice thing to do, and call me Isa, Elizabeth is the only one who calls me Isabella, she has issues with nicknames."

Isa walks into the bathroom and I look at Angie and Allie. Ange is the first to speak, "so how many nicknames for Elizabeth can we make in the next five minutes." The three of us laugh and start to get ready, all the while randomly calling out different nicknames for Elizabeth. By the time we were ready to head down to breakfast we had all decided that for the rest of our time at Hogwarts we would be calling Elizabeth by no name other than Lizzie until she stopped being so stuck up.

We walk downstairs and Fred jogs over to us, "finally you guys are downstairs, the three of us are starving."

I look at Fred, "why didn't you starving boys just go down to breakfast without us?"

He looks at the floor and mumbles something that I can't make out.

"What was that Fred? I couldn't hear you."

"We forgot how to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast. We tried and we got horribly turned around so we came back to wait for you."

Fred refuses to meet my gaze as Angie and Allie crack up at the boys' misfortune. I nudge his shoulder with my own, "it's okay my mum and my dad both got lost trying to find the herbology greenhouse their first year, that was how they met. Getting lost happens to everyone."

He glances at me and smiles; "well then now that we are all here we should go get food. Jules would you care to lead the way?"

I walk in front of the group, "with pleasure Fred. Everyone follow me and try to keep up, I don't need anyone getting stuck on a moving staircase without the rest of the group."

* * *

We finally make it to the Great Hall thirty minutes later. Of course, despite my warning Ange and Allie fell behind talking and got caught on a staircase so we had to wait for the staircase to move back into the right position for them to join us. As we walk into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall comes over to us and hands us our schedule for the year. We all sit down and look at our schedules. The first thing that I look for is our potions block because I know that if we have Slytherin we are in for a very difficult year.

Fred is the first to say something, "bollocks we have potions with the snakes and herbology with the Hufflepuffs, there was a part of me that was really hoping for a miracle."

I look up at him and sigh, "we were all hoping that Fred but, instead we have Snape bright and early on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning with the Slytherins. Speaking of which we should head out soon class starts in thirty minutes and breakfast is over in fifteen."

Dejectedly we all turn to our plates and eat as much as we can in the last few minutes we have left in breakfast, then we get up and start the long journey to the dungeons for potions class.

* * *

We walk into the cold and dark dungeon room that Snape uses for his potions classroom and there are tables with two chairs apiece. Lee and George immediately snag the table the farthest back in the room leaving Fred with the three of us girls. Angie and Allie walk over and sit down at the table right in front of George and Lee and proceed to start talking and laughing like Fred and I don't even exist. Noticing this I pull Fred over to a table on the other side of the room from them. "The four of them can talk all they want but this means they can't pull us into it to get in trouble with Snape. If they want to goof off and talk they can get points taken away, not us."

Fred's initial look of puzzlement vanished while I explained my table selection to him and that permanent smile he always has on takes its place. However, that smile was short lived as Elizabeth comes in the room and walks over to us. She opens her mouth to speak and I can just tell it won't end well, "Juliet, you should sit with Isabella when she comes in so that way I can sit with Freddie."

Fred immediately turns to her, "I'm sorry did you just tell my friend to get up so that you, a girl I've never met before, can sit with me? Did I miss something because I'm confused I was pretty sure normal people don't say rude things like that to people they've just met."

She gives Fred this look of disgust, "you think I'm rude! You should look in the mirror sometime Fred Weasley because rude describes you, and to think I thought you were cute."

Thank goodness Isabella walked in and calmed Elizabeth down and sat with her in another corner of the room because I do not want to know what Fred would have said next.

The rest of the class was pretty uneventful, though Snape did seem to ask the more difficult questions to the Gryffindors. Finally, the ending bell rang allowing us to get out of the cold dungeon. Fred and I meet with everyone else out in the hallway. Ange looks at the two of us, "why did you not sit with us in potions?"

I look at Ange and just shrug, "I couldn't see the board all that well sitting in the back so I wanted a desk slightly closer to the front."

Satisfied with my answer Angie turns and starts talking to Allie and we finally start walking to our second class of the day, charms. We all walk up the stairs glad to be free from Snape's grasp. I felt at home in this classroom and I have no idea why, but I don't really care. I grab Fred and Angie's hands and pull them up to the front of the classroom. Allie drags George and Lee up to the front as well despite their groaning about the matter and I laugh, if only the boys understood my excitement to be in a class where I felt at home. Professor Flitwick walks in and heads up to the podium as he waits for the rest of the class to finish trickling in. Once everyone sat down he began to teach and I was fascinated. I mean today's lesson wasn't all that exciting, it was about how to hold a wand properly. What fascinated me was the way that Professor Flitwick spoke about wands and the way that they can impact our magical capabilities. He demonstrated how holding a wand differently could impact our ability to do even simple tasks, such as levitating a feather. I look over at Fred who is sitting next to me and I'm surprised to see that he is actually paying attention and not goofing off like I worried he might be. I smile, maybe there is some hope for the boys yet.

* * *

We finally make it to the end of our classes for the day and we all just want to go take a nap. "Professor Binns just about bored me to death. You almost had another ghost of Gryffindor to deal with." Fred melodramatically pretends to die and as the rest of my friends laugh while I roll my eyes "don't worry Jules I was only joking you still get to deal with my charming self."

I laugh and nudge him with my shoulder, "oh yes, so charming."

We all head back up to the common room and I notice Artemis sitting on the ledge just outside the common room window. I let her in, shut the window behind her, and take the letter from her. The letter is from Hagrid, which means that mum and dad must be using a post owl to send me a response to my letter from last night.

Dear Juliet,

Of course I saw yer sorting ceremony I wouldna missed it for the world. How about you bring these new friends of yers over for tea sometime this week. How's Friday after yer afternoon break sound to ya? Let me know so I can be expecting for the right number of people.

Hagrid

I walk over to my friends. "How would you all like to have tea with Hagrid on Friday?"

Fred looks up at me puzzled, "Hagrid? Isn't he the large fellow who took us across the lake on the boats?"

"Yup, just the one. He was the one who found me after I woke up with no memories" I smile at my friends as they all nod and I jot down a quick response to Hagrid on a scrap of parchment.

Hagrid,

We would love to have tea with you on Friday. See you at 5:00 PM on Friday. There will be six of us coming, maybe seven if I see Tonks beforehand, to see you and Fang.

Juliet

I walk over to Artemis who nibbles on my finger before taking the letter. I tell her to head up to the owlery after she drops it off and get some rest and food. I watch as she flies the letter down to Hagrid's house and I see him take the letter from her and walk back inside.

As I turn around to walk back over to my friends Charlie comes through the portrait hole followed by none other than my sister.

Tonks manages to squeak out, "Jules!" just before she practically tackles me to the floor.

I mumble a, "hi Tonks" into her shoulder before she realizes she's smothering me with a hug.

"Whoops, sorry" Tonks takes a step back and smiles at me. "So have you made any new friends?"

"Ugh, stop Tonks. Who do you think you are? Mum?" I laugh at her excitement and walk her over to where my friends are sitting. "Tonks, you already know the boys and you may also remember Angelina from the Leaky Cauldron but this is Alicia Spinnet she is also in my year. The six of us became friends sitting on the train together." Tonks waves at everyone and Alicia smiles, happy to finally have met my sister that I spoke of often. "For those of you who don't know this is my sister Nym-" and I'm immediately cut off by Tonks putting her hand over my mouth.

"Her sister, Tonks."

Fred and George start laughing and George looks at Tonks and says, "what Nymphadora do you not want them knowing your first name?"

Tonks' hair immediately turns red as she takes off across the room chasing down George. Angelina looks at me, "did your sisters hair just turn red?"

I laugh, "yeah she's a metamorphmagus, she can change her appearance at will."

Angelina stares at Tonks from across the room and then looks back at me, "wicked."

Tonks finally catches George and drags him by his ear back over to the group. "Ow let go of my ear before you rip it off!"

Tonks sighs, "I'm not going to rip it off you bloody stupid buffoon. This should be a warning for the next time you try calling me by my full name."

She lets him go once she gets him back over to us. "I'm going to head back to Hufflepuff so that I'm not out after curfew."

I hug her, "can I ask a real quick question before you go?"

She smiles at me, "sure little sis, what is it?"

"Would you like to come with us to Hagrid's on Friday at 5:00 for tea?"

"I would love to Jules. I'll meet you in the entrance hall at 4:45."

I say goodbye and Charlie walks her out.

* * *

Friday finally rolls around and after waiting for Tonks in the entrance hall for ten minutes we finally get on our way. We get to Hagrid's right on time and I knock on the door. He opens the door with a huge smile on his face.

"Jules! It's so good to see ye. I just put the kettle on. Come on in all of ye."

The seven of us walk inside and sit down, Fang immediately walks over to George and slobbers all of his hand when George goes to pet him. George pulls his hand back, "eww dog slobber." We all laugh at George and Hagrid brings him a towel to wipe off his hand.

Hagrid comes back over a few minutes later with a tray of his rock cakes and the tea steeping in the teapot.

I lean over to Fred who sat down next to me on the couch and I whisper, "if you value your teeth I wouldn't eat the rock cakes."

He nods and smiles and passes along the message to George. Satisfied with how everything turned out Hagrid comes over, pours himself a cup of tea, and sits down in his chair and Fang lays down by his feet. "Go on, all of yeh, don't be shy. I wasna sure how you took your tea so there is cream, milk, lemon, and sugar on the tray as well."

I stand up and before I can even get to the table Fred is asking me to make him a cup as well. I make mine with a splash of milk and his with two sugars and a little bit of lemon.

We wind up sitting and talking with Hagrid until we need to head inside for dinner. But before we leave we promise him that we will make this a weekly occurrence.

* * *

After dinner we all head back up to the common room excited to finally start our first weekend at Hogwarts. The only thing putting a damper on our spirits is the 8 inch potions essay we need to have ready by Monday morning.

"I can't believe we already have homework on the first weekend of school", Fred groans sitting down on the couch by the fireplace.

"Just be glad it isn't longer and the topic is easy" I sigh sitting down next to him, "it's a good thing he at least gave us a potion that we've heard of, the uses of the Antidote to Common Poisons shouldn't take too long to write 8 inches on it, I'm sure there are a lot of uses to talk about."

"I suppose you are right Jules but still, 8 inches is a lot of writing to give on the first weekend" George jumps in.

I groan, "okay fine you negative nancy's you can take more time grumbling about it than writing it and have it take all weekend. I'm going to go get started on it." With that I walk upstairs to my dormitory and start writing.

**Just so everyone knows I wound up combining chapters 6 and 7 into one longer chapter because they were both on the shorter ends of my chapters.**


	7. A Halloween to Remember

**I still don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy.**

* * *

**C****hapter 7- A Halloween to Remember**

**October 31, 1989**

* * *

Dear Mum and Dad,

The first two months of school have been pretty uneventful. My roommates and I are getting along well enough, one of the girls, Elizabeth, is pretty dreadful but everyone else is really wonderful. Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, and I have started going to see Hagrid during our free time on Friday each week. I'm doing well in really well in Charms, Professor Flitwick told me that I'm one of the fastest learning students he's had in a very long time. Potions class is going okay but I feel like Snape is harder on Gryffindor just because we have potions with Slytherin house. He always seems to find a way to punish Fred and George, even if they aren't technically doing anything wrong. Professor McGonagall is really stern, but underneath it all I can tell she really does care about how we do in her class. Transfiguration seems to be one of the only subjects the twins actually enjoy, they hate doing the homework of course, but they love doing the practical wandwork. I really love both aspects of the class personally; I love knowing why we are able to change matchsticks into needles on top of actually being able to do it. The 'why' behind the magic is one of my favorite things to learn about so I wind up in the library more often than most of the other students in my year. Most of them complain about Madam Pince because she can be really strict, but she knows all of the books in the library and always helps me find what I'm looking for which is really great. Professor Sprout is so nice; she loves helping us when we have problems in her class so it makes it really enjoyable even when we are working with a more difficult plant. Defense Against the Dark Arts is interesting enough but we seem to be learning more about creatures than we do about actual defense. As expected I'm also doing well in flying lessons but they are so boring because we don't really move around a whole lot on the brooms. I wish that first years could join the Quidditch teams or bring their own brooms to school because there are days where I just want to go out flying around the grounds. Speaking of the grounds, I've decided my favorite place to study is over by the lake; there is something soothing about the sound of the water that makes it much easier for me to study. I can't wait to see you both in December for break. I love you both and miss you so much.

Love,

Juliet

I seal the letter and send it off with Artemis who was waiting patiently on the stand I set up for her next to my bed. I check the time on my watch and realize I'm five minutes late for meeting Fred and George to head to breakfast. I go to move towards the door when all of a sudden I hear a clicking sound followed shortly by screams and a crash. I open the door to see the stairs to my dormitory shifting back into stairs from some kind of a slide with the twins in a heap on the floor in front of them. I laugh at the bewilderment and embarrassment plastered on their faces.

"If you two had paid attention to the meeting that we had with the prefects last month you would know why that didn't work. These are the stairs to the girls dormitories and you are boys, the stairs are charmed to turn into a slide when a boy tries to walk on them."

Fred and George look up at me and groan, "well thanks for the heads up, but if you weren't so late all the time we wouldn't feel the need to try and come get you."

"I would say sorry for being late, but seeing you two on the floor like that just made my day."

The three of us slowly make our way out of the common room to the Great Hall for breakfast. Classes were cancelled for today because it's Halloween and I didn't quite understand why that was until we walked out of the common room. The castle was complete with top to bottom Halloween decorations, and the icing on the cake was the Great Hall. The usual candles were replaced with Jack-o-Lanterns and the banners were made of gorgeous velvet in orange, purple, green, and black. Professor McGonagall comes by our table just as we finish up our breakfast and hands us a piece of parchment with different activities that are going on today around the castle.

"Oh! In an hour Professor Quirrell is giving a lecture on the improbability of Dracula and Frankenstein in the library! We should go to that!"

Fred looks at me with a sideways glance, "and miss the Muggle candy taste test that the Muggle Studies professor is hosting. No way Jules."

George pipes in, "I'm with Fred on this one Jules, and candy definitely beats Dracula."

Lee, Angelina, and Alicia finally walk in and sit down with us while I continue to argue with the twins over the merits of going to Professor Quirrell's lecture. The three of them listen for a moment and then whisper amongst themselves.

Angelina leans over and taps my arm pulling me out of the argument; "you do know that Professor Quirrell is giving the same lecture after lunch right? The candy taste test is only happening once."

I look at the schedule again, "oh, yeah that's true." I look over at the boys, "well it looks like you two won this round, but this means I still get to drag you to the lecture later."

The twins groan but then grab me by my arm and drag me away from the table worried that we are going to be late to the taste test.

* * *

Two hours later Fred, George, and I make our way back up to the common room to digest all of the delicious candy before lunch. The three of us pile onto our favorite couch and wait for Lee, Angelina, and Alicia to get back. Fred and George are arguing over which of the Muggle candies was better, but I just keep wondering why they all seemed so familiar to me. It was almost like I had eaten them all before, but I couldn't remember when. It has to be a memory from my past, something that I still couldn't quite remember. The twins were still arguing when Angelina, Lee, and Alicia get back from wandering about the castle looking at the decorations. Lee comes over and sits in between them stopping their argument. I laugh, "Finally they shut up. I should have done that thirty minutes ago; it would have saved me a massive headache. Are you lot ready to head down for lunch?"

"Food? I thought you'd never ask!" Fred and George leap excitedly off the couch and start pulling me toward the portrait door. Angelina and Alicia laugh and grab Lee so that we can all head down together.

I fall back behind the twins to walk with Angelina and Alicia, "I swear the only thing those boys think about is food and Quidditch." The three of us laugh. "I'm thinking about going out for the Quidditch team next year. What do you two think?"

Angelina and Alicia look at me and smile. Angelina gives me a half hug "I think you'd make a wicked Quidditch player Jules."

"Thanks Angie, I think you and Allie should go out as well. They have a lot of spots opening next year. We could all play together!" The two of them laugh and nod as we make a pact to all try out together next year.

We make it to the Great Hall just in time to gorge ourselves on all sorts of delicious pumpkin based foods. Fred and George are both polishing off their fifth pumpkin pasty for desert when I look at the time. "Oh no! We are going to be late for Professor Quirrell's lecture!" I grab the twins, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee and we make our way over to the library. The area that Madam Pince set aside for the lecture was fairly empty so we managed to get great seats.

Professor Quirrell tells us how vampires can't actually turn into mist and that lightning can't bring a surgically created mosaic of people to life. "Muggles" he says "make up fantastical tales to try and understand the magic that they accidentally see in their lifetime." He continues, "Dracula was merely an incredibly pale wizard whose animagus was a bat. The trail of bodies left behind him was more to do with Dracula's vicious dueling style, in which he would charm the blood out of his opponents' bodies through two small holes in the neck."

Fred leans over to me and whispers in my ear, "Jules when can we leave? Any longer sitting here with Quirrell and I may charm my own blood out of my body."

I whisper back, not wanting to disturb Professor Quirrell, "oh quit whining. This is really fascinating. It's not every day we get to learn about this stuff."

The lecture continued for another half hour and then we were free. The twins dragged all of us out to go sit by the lake because they wanted to see if they could find the giant squid that lives there. Eventually we make our way back into the castle for the Halloween feast, where we get to watch the jack-o-lanterns sing Halloween songs as we finish dessert. After dinner we all head up to the common room and I head up to the dormitory to finish up my homework. I get about 8 inches into my charms essay that's due next week before I realize how late it is. I change into my pajamas and go to sleep, and that's when the dreams start.

* * *

I'm in the same house that I was in during my dream over the summer, only this time I'm standing at the top of the stairs looking down at the living room. My supposed mother and father are sitting on the couch talking. "I don't think I want her going to this school, she might as well just go to the local school with other children from our area and learn normal things like maths and social studies. Goodness knows she hasn't made any friends her age because we've always kept her separate so that no one knows that she is a witch. We'll have to find a way to make sure she can't accidentally use her magic around them though, if we do send her to a normal school." My father nods in agreement and I feel a jolt of fear run through my body, they're ashamed that I can do magic. It's something that now is as simple to me as breathing and they want to try to take it away from me. I sit down on the top step, hidden from their view trying to hear more of their conversation.

"I agree. She needs to lead a normal life, and going to Hogwarts won't help that at all. The classes they are supposed to take, potions and the like, how are they supposed to help her get a job outside of school. If she goes there she will be stuck in the wizarding world forever and will never be able to lead a normal life. If we let her go there we might as well just kiss her goodbye on the first day and just leave her. I'm sure McGonagall has a nice wizarding family that will take her. Ginny has children, maybe she will take in Juliet. All I know is that I do not want someone who can't be a functioning member of society living here because for all we know she could just decide she doesn't want to be a witch after she graduates and live here getting us to care for her the rest of her life."

I want to scream at them for being so close-minded about the whole thing. In what society is it okay to just drop your eleven year old child off and just leave them in the care of someone else. I'm appalled to even call them my biological parents because right now I know that I am where I'm meant to be with the Tonks'. I stand up and start walking down the stairs and I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I look to be about eight. My parents still don't seem to have noticed me because my mother opens her mouth to speak again and I'm so completely confused because she just keeps muttering Jules over and over again, and her voice completely changes. It's not until I feel someone's fingers tickling me that I wake up to Alicia sitting on my bed calling 'Jules' and Angelina tickling me. I sit up still groggy from my awful dream and ask them, "what time is it?"

"It's seven" they reply "but the boys are 'hungry enough to eat a horse' so we were going to go down and get an early breakfast."

I look over at the two of them, "I need to go talk to Professor McGonagall about something before breakfast today, so you guys can go on ahead without me."

"Okay, we'll see you in Potions then I guess." They walk out the door and head down the stairs to go meet the boys.

I shake my head to try and get rid of the last of the grogginess, and then I throw on my robes and head down to Professor McGonagall's office. Once I get there I knock on the door hoping that she will have time for me before classes start because I the last thing I want is to walk in late to potions. Even though I know that my biological parents are far away and can't see what I do here I want to do even better than before just to spite them. Thankfully, she opens the door right away and ushers me in. Once I begin to tell her what happened she stands up and walks around her desk to stand next to me. "I think it will probably be best if we go see Professor Dumbledore about this. Follow me Juliet."

I stand up and follow her out of the office and she leads me through the school until we reach a statue of a gargoyle blocking a corridor with a spiral staircase. Professor McGonagall looks directly at the statue and says "pepper imps" and it springs out of the way, allowing us to pass. She gestures for me to go first, and I begin the trek up the staircase.

Professor Dumbledore looks at me with eyebrows raised once we get inside his office, and I look back and mutter "it's the dreams again."

"Ah, very well, Minerva you may leave us. Juliet and I have much to discuss" and he looks at me with a smile in his eyes.

"Very well Albus. I will see you later in my class Juliet." She smiles at me and turns to leave.

Before the door closes behind her I call after her, "Of course Professor McGonagall, see you later." Once she is gone I turn to Professor Dumbledore. He looks at me and goes to sit in the chair behind his desk. He gestures to the chair across the desk from him.

"Come sit down Juliet, and tell me about this dream of yours."

I sit in the chair facing his desk and tell him everything. I tell him all about the conversation that I overheard and how much that worried me. I told him how I thought I was around eight at the time based off of how old I looked in the mirror. I told him that my parents seemed in both dreams to be a bit off put by the idea of magic and that had I actually had a magical accident because I was upset or scared I wouldn't put it past my parents to blame it all on me and punish me for it. I told him how glad I was that I wound up with the Tonks' because they are so wonderful, and that anywhere would probably have been better than where I was before I showed up at Hogwarts. He sat in silence listening to my whole story, and at the end, once I exhausted all of my talking points he spoke. "Juliet, like you said this is a very worrying dream, but it leads me to wonder still, how you got here. I've never heard of a child's magic being strong enough to bring you back here, and yet, I worry that with enough of a stressor from your parents that it may have been possible. It appears that the Dreamless Sleep Potion does not prevent these dreams, so taking them would just be a waste of your valuable dreams. I just encourage you to come see me the next time something like this happens. Hopefully we can piece together what and why this happened soon, so that you can have the answers you need. Now I believe you'll want some breakfast before you head off to potions?"

I nod "yes sir, I should probably get going so I can grab something quick."

"Nonsense, you can eat here", he smiles and waves his hand. My usual breakfast appears on the desk in front of me and I dig in. Once I finish, Dumbledore waves his hand again and the plate disappears. I stand up, and after I thank him again for listening and for breakfast I head off to potions.

I slip in at just the right time in the seat right next to Fred. He looks over at me and asks where I was this morning, and before I could come up with something to tell him Professor Snape walks in and I settle for, "I'll tell you later." Fred nods and we both listen to Professor Snape tell us about the potion we will be brewing today, the Forgetfulness Potion. How appropriate, I think to myself, as I recall the almost year that I've had without my memories of the past. The more Snape goes on about how the strength and caliber of the brew can change how long it will last, the more I wonder if someone just slipped me a potion so that I wouldn't remember. I think better of it though when he says that it can only affect a small portion of a person's life. Thankfully, today was one of Fred's lets not goof off while making a potion days because I was too distracted to even try to keep him on track.

Potions ended without too much stress and Herbology went smoothly as usual, which was good because I was still really distracted by what Dumbledore and I discussed . Fred, who sat next to me in both classes could tell, and so as soon as Herbology was over and we had a free period before lunch he dragged me over by the lake. As soon as we got there he sat me down and just looked at me for a few minutes. I still hadn't said anything and just stared out at the lake. Fred puts his hand on my shoulder and so I turn to look at him.

"Jules, what's wrong? You've been distant and distracted all morning. It's not like you. First, you don't show up to breakfast and I hear from your roommates that you went to see Professor McGonagall and the next thing I know you're almost late to potions and you won't speak to anyone."

I sigh, "I had a dream last night, about my past. My parents were not nice people at all, they were Muggles who were ashamed that I was a witch, they thought it meant that I was no longer normal and they talked about just abandoning me at the station once school started our first year. Dumbledore thinks I just got really stressed out and scared living there and so I managed to use magic not normal to a kid's level and I erased my memory and wound up at Hogwarts. I have no clue who I am or who my parents were or even if any of the dreams are true. They could be wonderful people that my dreams are distorting into horrible ones. I don't know what to think or how to feel Fred."

"Wow, okay that's not what I was expecting it to be. I don't know what to tell you Jules, but I'll be here the whole way through if you need me. You're my friend, your dad could be You-Know-Who or something and that wouldn't change a thing. I'll be here for you no matter what." He smiles at me, and I smile back. He stands up and holds out his hand to help me up. As we walk back towards the castle for lunch he throws an arm around my shoulder and I smile. I may not know where I came from, but I got really lucky where I wound up.

**Once again I combined two of the chapters, this time chapters 8 and 9. I have a lot of free time this summer so I'll be trying to update once a week now that I'm back in the habit of writing a lot.**


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